The Door in the Mist
by Punk19
Summary: Master Vile's daughter has been missing along with her son's for 1,600 years, he's given up hope that she will be found but his uncle hasn't. For 1,600 years his uncle has been searching and it looks like he has found a good lead. Has he finally found Angel Irene and her four son's or is it another false lead?
1. Part 1

The tv, a fifty inch flat screen with a energized frame that was mounted on a light gold wall that had gold trim placed at every six-inch intervals, went on. At first the screen just gave a white zap, there was the sound of static then the screen went black for only a few seconds before it came on. A program had just gone off, the credits were rolling, the producer, director, assistant director, assistant producer and of course the actors involved in the program had there of been any. The large, shiny, silver eyes that looked out of a pair of goggled glasses watched the credits roll, the person watching the screen's heart beat faster as the program he had participated in just a week earlier came closer to being aired. With the last roll of the credits the commercials came then, afterwards, the program. The credits rolled first, showing the stars, or in this programs case the interveiwees, then the directors, producers and the works. When the program began a reporter was walking down a yellow sidewalk, on either side of her was lush, blue grass. The viewer's heart began beating a bit harder, a bit painfully, as the reporter started the program. The reporter was a woman, tall, about five foot nine inches and wearing a dark blue dress and having long, blonde hair that draped down past one of her shoulders. The viewer knew this woman only slightly, when Galosa Spiklo had asked if she could do a program on his missing person she had asked if she could do segments in odd areas, plain walking segments where the reporter was walking through areas either on his land around his house or walk in a hallway in his house.

"When someone goes missing what does one do to find that person? Typically it is kept within the hands of the law, a team of investigators and officers will scout the area, looking for any and all disturbances and asking questions and generally doing all that they can to find and bring the missing back home or bring closure to the family of the missing. There is only one being in the universe that her family has taken the chore of finding and bringing back home and that is Angel Irene.

"Angel Irene, a lovely woman who was very much sought for by more than one, seemed to of been tamed down and enjoying life with her family but she was not like that all of the time. Discovered at the believed age of two hundred and fourteen years, the woman was sought after at first by her famous father then, when she continued to thwart his plans he was joined up by members of his family that had many thousands of years before her birth dropped him"

"My real reason for joining up with my son was really because I had discovered that a child of my own who I had thought had been long passed had been discovered alive and well." the caption underneath the man who had medium-length, elongated ears that were a gold color and had red Tiger-like stripes on them said that the man was KurukVile Surfeit, the grandfather. "I didn't much intend to un-disown my son but it happened, I grew close and attached to his three children, including the wayward one who I grew very attached to and I helped out in bringing her in several times."

"Angel Irene was pursued by her father, the mighty Master Vile who conquered his birth planet and then afterwards his birth galaxy of M-51 which garnered him his disowning from his father, for a long 2 years before her grandparents, KurukVile Surfeit and his wife, Irka Shaiden, joined in on bringing her in. She had them all running for quite some time, even going from one galaxy to another to shake them off then was captured. During the time that her grandparents, and later her great-uncle and great-grandmother and then near the end her great-grandfather who had been thought to of not survived his encounter with the Kankuranger on Wren8 in the Keyla Galaxy which he conquered soon after he made himself known to the universe as being very much alive and well and still very powerful, joined up with her father, she was picked as her father's Family Mate and mothered one child by him of which she got removed on a planet in her grandfather's conquered galaxy, the Wycos Galaxy. After being captured she became swiftly pregnant again." the blonde reporter continued with her story, she was now walking down a yellow road that had purple and brown rocks and pebbles on either side of it along with the occasional cluster of purple grass sprouting out.

"It was a combination of her being very unhappy, depressed, feeling like she was being caged in and being angry that turned her against her unborn child." KurukVile Surfeit said. "She accepted the child, after she had escaped from us and had gone to Earth again. We're not really sure what happened for her to change her feelings on the child, but we believe that possibly her working to keep her pregnancy going by hunting for food and keeping warm and then later holding her newborn son for the first time did the changing."

"Angel Irene went to this planet here," the blonde haired female reporter was now walking on Earth, behind her was a series of pink shields which were casting out a faint breeze and hum. "to give birth to her first to-term child and then continued her plight in running away from her family. It was during the first few months of her being a mother that her great-uncle began pursuing her but not in a capture and hand over way. It was soon discovered that he was meant for her, picked by the Universal Gods to be her Universal Mate and dominant partner."

"It actually started sooner, my nephew showed me a photo of his daughter which I never returned. I couldn't take my eyes off of the photograph, I was walking around all over my library and office and bedroom thinking myself crazy then it really picked up after she had given birth. I caught her a few times, I was going through a difficult time in my life which she helped me get through and after the third time that I had her we coupled." the viewer nodded his head, the person on the screen now was him. He had been asked a few questions and he had answered almost all of them.

"Angel Irene soon returned to Earth after her coupling with her great-uncle, who swiftly became her Universal Mate, pregnant. She was said to of near lost the child she was carrying but by miraculous circumstances she retained and recovered and then, after bringing her great-great grandfather back to life from his extended sleep in limbo, was captured by her family. She was brought to the planet of Moas in the M-51 Galaxy soon after being caught where sources have said that she was marvelously happy the last few months of her pregnancy." the blonde haired female reporter was now walking and pointing at a large, burgundy mansion that had a spiraling top that a gold sphere set on top of that cast down a gold glow onto the blue grasses in the yard. "Angel Irene gave birth to her second child, another son who was given the name of LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit, in this mansion on March the eight about sixteen hundred years ago."

"My firstborn son was born healthy, he weighed about six pounds and ten ounces. He was one of two that were born on that day." the viewer blinked his eyes, just seeing him sitting on his immense front porch, answering these questions, brought forth so many memories. Both good and bad.

"Not only was Angel Irene to give birth in this residence, but also her grandmother, Irka Surfeit, who gave birth to her son, BarukVile Glosu Surfeit, who weighed seven and a half pounds at birth. The two women, as well as the other family members, a total of thirty-three, that had been invited to view the birth of the two infants, had a happy three months of new motherhood before Angel Irene ran off again. Sources have said that her reason was because her father was creating trouble while others say that it was just her nature as she seemed to never want to settle down. Either or, Angel Irene was captured after almost a year on the run and was brought in along with her son's." the reporter was now in front of the viewer's brother's fortress home. "Soon after being captured she was brought here to the house of her grandparents who thought it best for her to get use to her family. Angel Irene was in the residence for all of three weeks then she escaped, taking a female with her who had also been captured along with her and her two son's. The female got away but Angel Irene was captured and taken back. It was during her stay at this residence here that three more infants were born. SyamsinVile Palus, son of CelobraVile and Pagnyar Palus, and TralisaVile Veonim, daughter of BenociVile and Qepax Veonim, grandchildren of TrobrencusVile Surfeit and Bahne Brotzol and GaajahVile Surfeit, the son of DuruVile Surfeit and Cyla Dybla."

He felt the bed bounce as the reporter rambled on, saying that TrobrencusVile Surfeit and Bahne Brotzol were related to Angel Irene as they were her great-great grandfather's uncle and aunt and that DuruVile Surfeit and his wife, Cyla Dybla, were also related by being her great-grandparents and that DuruVile Surfeit happened to of been the only surviving son and child of ShaamVile Surfeit. The reporter showed the rooms where Angel Irene most frequented in KurukVile's house, she did a few more interviews then she handed the reporting to a new reporter. This one was male, he stood six-foot three inches tall and was wearing a dark blue tuxedo with a dark blue tie and shoes. This reporter was walking inside the burgundy mansion which was empty and very silent. As the viewer listened, his daughter placed her hand on his and squeezed. He felt her sorrow and got himself under control quick, he sat upright, straightened his tie, cleared his throat then went back to watching his program.

"It was in this mansion here that she gave birth four hundred years after her second son was born. HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit was born on April twenty-third at six o' one in the morning. She had been thought to of been carrying a daughter by her Universal Husband whom she proclaimed in several interviews to love dearly, she and TazirVile Surfeit were elated when the child turned out to be a male, the second son sired by the man who has a daughter from his first marriage. The couple loved the job of parenthood, they doted on their children, TazirVile even adopted Bile Vile, the son of his nephew who was born to Angel Irene a hundred years before LhaklarVile Surfeit was born, and Angel Irene adopted EshalVile Surfeit, the daughter from TazirVile's first marriage." the male reporter said. "It was a hundred years later, after an ill-encounter with her father after she had gone to see if she and he could work out their differences, that she conceived again."

"It was a toss-up with that child, everyone was calling cards, drawing straws, placing bets and so on about what his paternity was." the caption underneath the man, whose face on the left side was carmine pink with the right side being maroon and his elongated ears being a burgundy color with black, Tiger-stripes on them, said that he was ShaamVile Surfeit and said that he was Angel Irene's great-great grandfather. "We were all there for Lhaklar's birth, same for Hazaar's, we never had a chance to see Lazeer being born."

"At one in the afternoon, Angel Irene was terrified to find that she was going through an early labor after her water broke on the stairs. TazirVile Surfeit rushed her to the hospital where doctors said that she was in sure labor and that, at only five and a half moths gestation, her baby might not make it. On February the thirteenth at one thirty-five am, Angel Irene gave birth to a tiny baby, a son she and TazirVile swiftly named LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit." the male reporter was now in a hospital, he was standing in front of a doctor who was wearing a blue doctor's suit.

"LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit was, without a shadow of a doubt, TazirVile Surfeit's get. He looked like him and, despite being small and premature, was right healthy on birth." the doctor said when questioned about Angel Irene's fourth child. "During the night, though, he got pretty sickly."

"LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit underwent hours of treatment, the best of medicine and doctors were put on him. It seemed that the tiny Surfeit wasn't going to make it but miraculously, after three days he came around. He stayed in this hospital for all of two weeks, growing in the Neonatal intensive care unit. At his side was his mother, Angel Irene, father, TazirVile Surfeit, one of his grandfathers, DuruVile Surfeit and his great-grandfather, ShaamVile Surfeit." the reporter was now walking outside of the hospital. "Angel Irene and TazirVile Surfeit refused to leave the hospital during their tiny newborns fight for his life, when they were able to take him home they were ecstatic."

"Lazeer, in the three months that I knew him, went back and forth from Cawanuuk Hospital. His mother was a mess, she was stressed out, the doctors said that if her son survived he'd have mental issues and we pretty much just left them alone. We stayed away, letting the parents deal with it. It was a big mess, a huge mess. If I could of done anything differently I'd of been there for them, maybe then she wouldn't have run off with all of her son's." ShaamVile Surfeit said.

"Angel's father, who she was still having difficulties with, thought that in her best interest to take her from all the stress she was experiencing. He had plans to remove her from all four of her son's, take her away, make her abandon me and her babies and Eshal that she was so close to and loved so much. After three months, she snapped and ran off. I've been looking for her and our son's ever since." the viewer fought, and lost, to not look down. When he did look down at his hands, which were wrapped around his knees, he swallowed hard.

"Angel Irene left the mansion behind me, TazirVile and EshalVile on the night of May the twentieth and has not been seen since. Her family pulled forth a galant search effort to find her and her son's with everyone becoming involved." the male reporter was in front of the burgundy mansion, he was walking away, down the yellow path that led from the immense front porch. "Over the years, the numbers in the search have dropped due to not finding a trace of Angel Irene and her four son's. TrobrencusVile and his family, Master Vile and his family and DuruVile and his family broke off the search after two hundred years of searching. ShaamVile broke off from the search a hundred years later with almost all of KurukVile and TazirVile Surfeit's siblings following in his example leaving the search afterwards. KurukVile Surfeit and his wife dropped out of the search after seven hundred years of searching. The only ones that are still searching and are still holding onto hope that Angel Irene and her four son's will be found alive and well are TazirVile Surfeit, his younger sister, QeetaVile Surfeit and Cheshire and Ashaklar Ubalki, along with Mr. and Mrs. Ubalki's four grown children, Efagti, Amadh, Phaggo and Blaiga Ubalki. The Ubalki family are all related to TazirVile Surfeit, Ashaklar being his mother and Cheshire Ubalki being his stepfather, and thus, all members are also related to Angel Irene and her four son's."

"You've searched for sixteen hundred years, what keeps you searching?" the blonde reporter was asking TazirVile Surfeit.

"We're clinging to a hope, I'd feel it if she was gone, the same with our son's. I don't feel as if I've lost my other half, that's what's keeping me going along with the hope to bring her back to my home on Moas and my great love for her." TazirVile Surfeit said.

"Don't you think you've caused the lives of your oldest child, mother, stepfather and younger half-siblings to stop because of your searching for her?" the report asked.

"I have told them that if they don't want to continue searching for her they don't have to. They've all kept up the search with me because they love Angel and our son's just as much as I do." TazirVile replied.

"If you find her remains or the remains of her son's, what will you do then? Will you go back to your life and let everyone else go back to theirs?" the reporter asked.

The program ended swiftly after that, the man named TazirVile looked at the reporter for a long while, sighed loudly then stood up. He removed his mic from his shirt, undid all of the wiring from the device hooked onto a belt that was around his waist then walked into his mansion without saying anything else. The camera followed him a few seconds then darkened, the program ended with a series of photographs of the woman, Angel Irene, and her four son's that had been taken before they had all disappeared. All of the photographs were old, none of them were updated, and underneath one of the photographs it said LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit, February 13, 2,599,093,008 - presumed deceased. Just seeing this made the view upset, he didn't want to accept it and really, neither did his daughter beside him. His daughter buried her head in his shoulder at sight of the words _presumed deceased _and began crying. He clicked the tv off, placed the remote at his side then turned and began to give comfort to his only daughter. Although he didn't cry on the outside, on the inside he was breaking. He'd do his crying in private, like a man.

She had watched the program with her husband and six babies the night before and had broken down at the end, as had her two daughter's. The reporters had done their job, had done the interviews but they hadn't captured the emotions in the people that they had been interviewing except for in one person and that had been her son. She had seen the professional coming out from her son's brother and grandfather, no emotion what-so-ever, just plain professionalism. Her son had shown professionalism as well but he had added emotion into his interviews and that had made his interviews look more real, not like he was reading cards or being an actor. She couldn't be sure, but after she had left the room that her family had been in when the program had been run and had calmed herself down some enough to go upstairs to check on her son and granddaughter she thought she had seen her son propped over the vanity, his back hunched, his hands gripping the edge of the sink, his goggled glasses placed in their dark green leather case near the dials. She had seen him looking down, had seen his shoulders moving back and forth and had thought she had heard him sobbing. Hadn't her son, her oldest son, of seen her looking into the bathroom he had been in she would have run in and given him some comfort. He was a man, a grown man, and like all men he didn't like showing emotion or having others see him cry, when he had seen her in the mirror he had reached back with one of his hands and had closed the door. She had understood, watching that program, seeing the interviews and lastly, seeing the photographs with the last one having Presumed Deceased underneath of it had hit him hard. Sixteen hundred years, one thousand, six hundred years of searching planet after planet, putting up fliers, conducting speeches and interviews, doing bulletins both through radio and television, they still had found not a thing, had heard not a thing. It was like Angel Irene had fallen fully off of the face of the universe, along with her son's. He had checked Earth, had sent his Goblin armies into the shield and had ordered that his soldiers drag each and every redhead out into the open. He had looked through hundreds of redheads, tall and short, petite, pear-shaped, hour-glass shaped, overweight, redheads with brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes, gray eyes and redheads that had all sorts of skin complexions from pale white to honey to darkly tanned and had not found her. After a hundred years he had left Earth to search other planets, other galaxies. He had missed so much, he didn't have to conquer to bring in any cash as the Andromeda, Vaisha and Bula Galaxies were bringing him in so much that he was guaranteed rich for life. He had missed two siblings being born, a niece and a nephew being born, a great-nephew being born, birthdays, holidays, events. Everyone else in the Surfeit clan had gone back to their lives, had given up, had held up the white flag, everyone but him and his sister, her oldest daughter. She couldn't be happier or prouder of her two older children, or her four younger children who had pitched in as well in finding Angel and her son's. She was sure that Angel Irene, Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer were all just dusted memories to a majority of the Surfeit clan now, just bad memories that had been swept to the back, piled up and nearly forgotten, only brought up when someone asked about them then forgotten soon after the telling of her and her son's stories.

"Morning Efagti," she said when her oldest son from her second marriage walked into the kitchen.

"Morning ma," Efagti replied, still a bit groggy from waking up.

"Sleep well?" she asked.

"Not really," her son answered her.

"Breakfast in twenty, are your brother's and sister's up yet?" she asked, she had noted the depression in his voice and was hoping that some griddled pancakes, chicken and a good-sized helping of eggs would cheer her son up.

"Think so, I know Amadh is." Efagti replied.

As she began making breakfast, pouring quite a lot of the mix into a pan for the pancakes, sprinkling brown sugar on top then adding a swirl of strawberry on top of that, she glanced back at her oldest son from her second marriage. Efagti Ubalki, was his name, and he looked very much like his father. He had dark blue skin that was pulled tight over his body and large, oval silverish bronze eyes. The only thing that set him apart from his father was that he had muscle not only on his chest and arms but also on his lower body. Her oldest son had gotten all of that muscle from working the farm, working that animals, holding the mini-horses so his father could give them their shots or trim their hooves, leading the bigger horses to their sheds, heaving and tossing heavy bales of hay, toting heavy pails of oats or other animal feed, helping when shearing time came for the sheep and Almas, milking the cows and goats and helping with the fields come harvesting time. Her son's and daughter's from her second marriage had been raised far different than from her son and daughter from her first, while her first son and daughter had been raised to conquer planets and galaxies, be evil and spread terror, Efagti and his siblings had been raised to be respectful, hardworking and gentle. Curiously, even though her first son and daughter had been raised to be hard conquering, evil and terrorsome they had also gotten a good dollop of the respectful, hardworking and gentle genes. She flipped the first pancake onto a plate, it was joined by three more afterwards then she added some griddled chicken and a good helping of nice, fluffy and good country fried eggs to the side. She gave the plate to Efagti just as two more of her children walked into the kitchen.

"Smells good, mama." her secondborn from her second marriage said. "Your cooking alone wakes me up in the morning."

"Thank you Amadh." she said, she placed a plate with the same amount of food on it that she had just given Efagti in front of Amadh then she turned to make up a few more plates.

"Blaiga and Qeeta will be down soon." Phaggo said. "Fussing for the bathroom, last I saw."

"Bathroom fussing should be made into a tv show," Amadh said. "it is so comical, seeing all them girls fighting over the mirror and the hair brush."

"Just as long as they don't show what you do in the bathroom, we will all be alive tomorrow." Efagti said, his mother had just put a plate in front of Phaggo.

Amadh Ubalki was the comical one in the family, he typically turned on the jokes whenever anyone was down but he also had a tendency to open his mouth at any odd time. He looked most like his father, had dark blue skin that was pulled tight over his body but his eyes he hadn't gotten from his father. The almond-shape he had gotten from his father, yes, but the pure silver color he had inherited from his mother. He stood tall, had muscle on his chest and arms but his lower half was slender nad graceful looking. This child of hers had nearly gotten beat up several times sixteen hundred years ago for his comical nature by DuruVile Surfeit, although she and her husband nurtured the comical nature of their son they did tend to get somewhat annoyed by it. But they always spoke this in a nice way, never in a loud, insulting way that could hurt his physique. While Efagti had walked in wearing a pair of blue pants with a black belt around the waist, a black and green checkered shirt that was tucked in and brown boots, Amadh had walked in wearing a pair of overalls, brown boots and a brown and green checkered shirt. He was to tend the animals that morning while his father and brother took his half-brother out for a little fresh air.

Phaggo Ubalki had also inherited his father's dark blue skin, it was stretched gracefully over his body and had such a look of femininity to it that Amadh sometimes spurred out jokes on him actually being a girl in disguise. His large, silvery oval eyes he had gotten from his mother, he had a gentle look in them that said, whenever he looked at someone, that he was calm, cool and collected. It was true, the look in his eyes that was, his demeanor was one of calmness and of the utmost coolness. He'd not hurt a flea, much less start a fight. He was two thousand, seven hundred and thirty-four years old, very young still so he still had quite a lot of maturing and growing to go before he was a full-grown adult. He was wearing a white, short sleeve, shirt, green pants with a brown belt around the waist and brown shoes. Just as his mother got two more plates done, her two daughters walked into the kitchen followed by her youngest son who was acting a bit cranky.

"My bill is the same, right?" QeetaVile asked when her mother placed a plate in front of her.

"Yes dear, no bill at all." QeetaVile's mother replied with a warm smile.

"Just keep your buns in order," Amadh said, he then pointed at the hamburger buns that were hanging in their clear bag near the bread rack. "get it? Buns in order?"

"Even at six in the morning, you still find the jokes to make us smile." QeetaVile punched her younger brother in the shoulder.

"Ow! Ma, call the law enforcement! I'm filing for domestic!" Amadh faked crying.

"You're a comic act and a half." Blaiga said, everyone at the table laughed.

Blaiga Ubalki could well of been Phaggo's twin but she wasn't, she was two thousand and fifty-seven years old, very young still, about seventy-seven years younger than her older brother. Like her brother's, she looked like her father. She had dark blue skin, very feminine in design, and large, oval eyes that were silvery that she had inherited from her mother. She was wearing a dark green dress, no designs were on it and it covered her fully, nothing was shown, not even leg or the crease in the breasts and dark green, slip on shoes. Had her mother or father of seen her wearing such an outfit at her age they would have gotten on her, at her age she was better to wear fitting clothing and still, beyond her current age she was to keep wearing fully fitting, non-showy clothing. Blaiga had been the only daughter of her parents two thousand, one hundred years ago, she now had a younger sister but she hung out quite a lot with her mother and older, half-sister, learning the ropes of farm life for a woman.

QeetaVile Surfeit, the only daughter out of her first marriage to a man that she wished she never would have met, sat beside her younger half-sister. Although QeetaVile was older, way older, than Blaiga she still wore clothing that didn't show off her parts. For some reason, QeetaVile, or Qeeta as her mother, siblings and friends called her, was shorter than everyone at the table. She stood just five foot, eight inches tall, the others at the table were well over that reaching heights of six feet and over. She had long, jet black hair that was braided on the side and, just like everyone at the table, had suction-cups on the tips of each of her fingers. She had small breasts, a petite, pencil-thin like body and was wearing a purple dress with purple slippers on her feet. She had teal-colored skin and circular, silver eyes. Had anyone who had no knowing of her parentage of come into the kitchen and seen her, they'd of thought her as either a spouse or a family friend over for breakfast but she wasn't. She was related to everyone at the table.

Qhuakiz Ubalki, only three hundred and ninety-three years of age, was the typical toddler. Cranky when he didn't get his way, emotional at the oddest of times, loud, and left his toys and sometimes his clothes spread all around the house. Being the youngest, he was one that tended to get disciplined the most. He had medium-blue skin, large, oval-shaped, bronze-colored, shiny eyes and was only four feet tall. He had come to the table wearing his feetsie pajamas that were light blue and had little ducks on them. One of his parents typically, after breakfast, took him upstairs to get dressed, the same with his slightly older sister. She and her husband had been thrilled when they had discovered that she was with child, they both loved children. Just as she got two more plates done, her husband walked in with their youngest daughter in his arms, her only granddaughter walked in behind him.

"Getting heavy, Defe." her husband, Cheshire Ubalki said as he lowered he and her youngest daughter into her chair. "Of course," he looked up at his wife. "I have that to thank on you and that fine, country cooking that you feed us."

"Get it while it's hot." she said, she plopped three plates in three just occupied places on the table.

Before she took in her husband, she looked at her youngest daughter. Defe Ubalki had been a surprise to them but a welcomed one nonetheless. She had not had a good night after being put to bed, she had wandered into her parents bedroom chamber asking if she could sleep with them and both she and her husband had said that it was fine. Defe had the darkest of blue skin, large, oval-shaped eyes that were a light bronze color and long, blonde hair that was braided on the ends and she was tall for her age of five hundred and ten years, standing at five foot, two inches. Her husband had dressed her that morning before coming downstairs for breakfast, she was wearing a pretty, yellow sun dress with a white ribbon around the waist that sprouted a white daisy from and she had pretty, yellow penny loafers on her feet. Defer, like Qhuakiz, was groggy. She wiped the sleep out of her eyes before grabbing her fork and starting in on her breakfast.

"Daddy will be down soon," EshalVile Surfeit said as she took her place at the table.

"How did you two sleep last night?" EshalVile Surfeit's grandmother asked her.

"Decent, for me." her granddaughter replied. "Not so sure about daddy."

Her granddaughter had done a lot of growing up the past one thousand, six hundred years. She had light blue skin, just like her daddy, but her eyes she had gotten from her mother, Bespe. She had green, cat-like eyes complete with black pupils, they were very feminine in design and made her face look very pretty. Like everyone at the table, she had suction-cups at the ends of each of her fingers. Her cheek bones were set up high on her face and her hair was grown out long, it ran all the way down her back and was a pretty light blue, her bangs were purple and were braided. She was wearing a red dress, nothing showing as it fit her fully but it did allow for her perky breasts to jut out slightly, and red slip on shoes. There was a ruby strand necklace around her neck that really brought out her looks. EshalVile Surfeit, or Eshal as everyone called her, was her father's only daughter through his first marriage and was the adopted daughter of Angel Irene, the woman had had been missing for one thousand, six hundred years.

"You look beautiful this morning, Ashaklar." Cheshire said, he walked up behind his wife and gave her a hug.

"Thank you, you don't look but so bad yourself." Ashaklar said to her husband.

Ashaklar took her seat at the table, there was a plate in the microwave for her oldest son, it would be kept warm for him as the microwave was set to keep items placed in it warm and fresh. Her husband of sixty-one thousand, six hundred years sat at the other end of the table. He sat at the head of the table because that was what he was, the head of the family. Cheshire Ubalki was her second husband and would remain the only husband she would ever have, she hoped. He was a tall man, standing at six-foot, three inches in height, and had dark blue skin. His eyes were almond-shaped and were bronze in color, he had inherited the eye ailment in his left eye and wore a goggled monocole over that eye which she thought made him look even more handsome. He had a lot of muscle on his arms and chest while the rest of him was slender. He had put on a pair of brown pants and a brown, long sleeve, button-down shirt that morning when she had gotten up, since her absence in the bedroom he had put on a black vest that had black ties and brown boots, there was a gold chain running from the left breast pocket of his vest to the left pocket of his pants, she didn't need to know what was held on the end of the chain, her husband was an avid snuff chewer, but he from time to time also smoked but that was mostly when he was stressed or it was a special occasion. He was a good man, a patient and understanding man, a good man to his children, a good man to his step-children and his step-granddaughter. He had never hit, insulted, abused or spoken badly of anyone, he was respectful and caring and she loved him so much for that. Her first husband had been the total opposite, Ashaklar put her old husband out of her mind. Just as she put a forkful of eggs in her mouth he oldest child walked into the kitchen.

"In the microwave, Tazzy." she said when her oldest son stopped at the doorway to the kitchen.

She had just to look at the off-balance walk and the mumbling to know that her oldest, and only, son from her first marriage had not slept a wink the night before. He retrieved his plate from the microwave then walked over to the table and sat down, by his taking of his seat he made the table complete, everyone was there. Her son was wearing a burgundy tuxedo, the jacket of which sported a long tail that trailed the ground, and burgundy shoes. He had a burgundy tie around his neck, a white shirt that had gold buttons down the front. Her son pushed the belled cuffs of his shirt up inside his tuxedo jacket before eating, she was glad for this as they were long and could well of gotten dirty, greasy and sticky if dragged in the food on his plate. He had a burgundy vest over his shirt, it had burgundy ties on it. Her son dressed elegantly, he liked to show his status in the universe and his wearings sure showed that. It wasn't his attire that attracted attention of reporters, documentors and authors though, it was his looks and the fact that he was a son of DuruVile Surfeit and that he was the conqueror of the Vaisha, Andromeda and Bula Galaxies and had garnered the title of Conquering Comet during his conquering campaign in the Andromeda Galaxy. TazirVile Surfeit had light blue skin, two holes where a nose would be on his face, an O-shaped mouth, like everyone except Eshal at the table, and suction-cups on the tips of each of his fingers. Unlike everyone at the table, he had inherited a severe case of eye ailment from his mother and was forced to wear goggled glasses whenever he went outside to protect his photo sensitive eyes. With her oldest child's arrival at the table, everyone went on eating in silence.

Ashaklar, whose maiden name was Zoopray, knew that it wasn't just his lack of sleep that was making him so quiet and depressed that morning. She knew that it was a combination of things. The program was right on top, with the treatment he had received during the day before from his father then having his brother swoop in with his saying to give it up. Her son had been badly abused as a child, beaten with sticks, whips, his father's hands and then he had received a good dose of verbal abuse on top of that. Although it had made for one fine man who had learned to not use that treatment on his children, it had left him somewhat vulnerable. His body wasn't chock full of muscle like his brother's, he didn't have the muscle of his father or grandfather either but instead he had inherited a slimmer body that had quite a lot of muscle built up in the chest, arms and gentle flowing muscle in the legs. Unlike his brother, who was scarless from receiving great treatment and raising from their father, he had a body full of scars on the back, arms and legs with slight scarring on the front, a majority of them having been placed on him by her horrid ex-husband. Her son had gotten stronger after his wife had left him, he had gotten stronger physically, but mentally and emotionally he was half there. He was like half a person without his wife and without his son's. She felt such sorrow for him, she and her family had helped all they could and were still helping to find his wife and son's. Their helping wasn't because they wanted Tazir, as they all called him, to be back to his old self, they did want him happy and back to himself again but they had all grown attached to Angel Irene and her four son's as well, even the two younger ones that they had barely gotten to know before they had been whisked away in the night by their mother in fear that their grandfather would steal her away from them. Within ten minutes everyone was finished eating, the dishes were piled up in the sink and the men went off to do their chores, all except for three that was. As her husband and two oldest son's from her two marriages walked out of the kitchen she was struck suddenly with anger towards KurukVile Surfeit and the rest of the Surfeit clan. Her son's older half-brother had pushed her son to do the interviews and had pushed to have the program aired on the eve before the day that Family Week, a holiday in the universe that all family's celebrated, started. Now, because of that damn program being aired on the night of the eve of Family Week, she was afraid that her son would be a mess throughout the week. KurukVile Surfeit, along with his and her son's father and their grandfather, ShaamVile Surfeit, had all made the program be aired on that specific night to try to punch some sense into her son. It had done something alright, it had made him feel depressed and from the feeling coming off of Eshal, standing beside her, helping her wash the dishes, she had also grown depressed because of the program. Ashaklar Ubalki, formerly Ashaklar Surfeit and before that, Ashaklar Zoopray, growled with hatred inside for the majority of the Surfeit clan for what they had intended to do to her son. For their intended breaking of her son's spirit and drive.


	2. Chapter 2

The click-clack of hooves filled his ears and momentarily distracted him from the depressed one behind him in the wagon, riding into town in his wagons, having his home-bred horses pulling him along, had always made the depressed ones and the depressed feelings evaporate. At that moment it was only doing half of its job, he had temporarily forgotten his depressed, half there, step son in the back. His oldest son was giving off an excited energy, he was talking about the town they were going towards, the church which was over a million years old and still looked no more than a hundred years old, the markets, the produce in the carts and, of course, the girls. Efagti had never married, for being forty-six thousand, nine hundred and fifty-nine years old he was still not married or showing any ambition to marry but he sure was one that looked at the ladies. None of his children were married, unlike the man who had sired his depressed step-son in the back, he wasn't going to push anyone in his family to become married or have children, specifically son's to carry on the lifeline. Since he was forever, forever to live and forever to sire son's and daughter's with his wife, Ashaklar depending of course, he was in no hurry for any of his get to have a partner or have children. If it comes, he had said so many times to his friends, it comes. I'll be there every step of the way with my kids, I'll have their backs and help them as much as I can. He had his chores to do himself, his wife needed produce to cook and spices as well and he had a mind to buy her something pretty, he was heading into town to do just that. He knew his son was going to help out with the shopping, somewhat, but he wasn't so sure on his step-son in the back. He had a feeling when he had gotten into the drivers seat of his wagon that his step-son was going to go in a different direction. Possibly go to a church or a bench in the park and sit down for a while. It took only an hour before they reached Baf-az town, an old town of nearly a hundred thousand years that had medium and tall-height buildings, produce carts and stands and two churches. He drove into the parking lot quickly, tied his two horses to a post, gave them a pat on the rear, then turned and saw that his son had already gotten off of the wagon. His step-son jumped off on the other side and just as he had thought he'd do, he went west towards the business portion of the town.

"Leave him be," Cheshire said to his oldest son when Efagti opened his mouth to say something to the back of TazirVile. "he has his rights, as do we all."

"I worry of him, pop." Efagti said. "He really went down after last night."

"It'll take him a while before he's back to what he was last night." Cheshire said. "Best to just leave him alone to do so."

TazirVile Surfeit, a hundred and fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred and twenty-three years old, old by the human standards but still fresh and spree like a chicken, walked down the yellow sidewalk with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his pants, deep in thought. It was true that the program had messed him up, he had gotten no sleep in the night and it was all because of that damn program. He had thought about the program, about the reporters questions, about the photographs, and then his mind had settled on his brother and father. Blast them, they had gotten in contact with Galosa Spiklo and had asked her to do the program for them, they had gotten her to schedule, re-schedule then re-re-schedule an appointment with him to ask if he'd participate and when he had said he wouldn't he had gotten the call. You do it, this is closure, this is what we all need, this is what you need and you damn well know it, his father had said. He had done the interviews and the program but he had gotten no closure from it, all it had done was spark up the old depression and the old anger that was inside of him. His brother had said he had grown very attached to Angel, his wife, well him giving up on the search was a fine damn way to show how attached he was. He felt betrayed, he felt that Angel had been betrayed, he felt that Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar had been betrayed and he felt that Lazeer's memory had also been betrayed. How one could say they were so attached to someone else and then abandon that person was beyond him, it was an act of betrayal to him, a serious stab in the back. Oh, I love you, I'm so attached, I'll search for you forever... oh we've searched long enough, we've filled in the death certificates and they're official now so there's no reason to do the searching anymore. His nephew had filled out his wife's death certificate first after two hundred years, he had done the same for his son, Bile, as well. His father had filled out the death certificates on all three of his son's and like the big jerk he was he had done his damnedest to push them on him. _Accept it, Boy, _he had said, _get on with your life. Father other children with another woman, forget about Angel, Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer. They're in the past now, no need for them to be thought of in the present or future_.

He had caught his father a good one in the jaw on his fifth attempt to push the death certificates on him and after he had said that. His father had looked at him, a glare of anger clear on his face then he had turned around and left. Good riddance, he had thought, don't come back, I don't need ya. He hadn't had much contact with his half-sisters the past three hundred years, they had always brought up the old, when are you going to give it up shit which he didn't need. He had wondered if they knew what the word love meant. Truly, not just the painted picture of the word, the trueness of the word. You don't give up on the ones you love, you don't say they're gone when they could very much be alive, you don't forget them when they are gone, you keep on loving and keep on remembering! He had nearly shouted that out to Whosla once but he had kept control, he had said a few more words then had hung the phone up. To be honest, he hadn't much talked to his older half-brother, father or grandfather either, they were always telling him to get over it, she's gone and won't even come back. They had gone back to their lives, had sired more babies, except for his grandfather who was still single. Betrayal, they had all shown it. TazirVile stopped at a shop that served pastries, sat down at the table then buried his head in his hands. So what if anyone saw the conqueror and ruler of the Vaisha, Andromeda and Bula Galaxies cry, he thought, so what if a picture of me is flashed in the midday's paper saying I've broken down and so what if my father calls me a sissy afterwards. Without Angel he felt so empty, so hollow, so incomplete. Several waitresses noticed him, they didn't come forward to ask him of what he wanted to order or to ask him if he was alright, that damn program had attracted an audience of over a quadrillion when it had aired, everyone on Zeta Ren had seen it and everyone who saw him took pity on him, knowing full well that he was upset over the program. He had recorded it, it was back at his mother and stepfather's residence nestled safely in his suitcase. He'd put it with all the little articles, the clipped newspaper clippings on the search, Angel Irene's disappearance, the birth of his son's... everything that had his wife's name and his four son's names on it he had collected and had kept. If one had asked him if he only had the stuff because he was sick in the head he would have reeled back and punched the person, he kept it because he loved each and every one of them and he kept them purely out of hope. If he found Angel and her son's, three of whom were his own with the oldest being his step-son, he'd have something to share. _My love, _he'd say, _this room is dedicated to you and the boy's. I never gave up hope, I never gave up my love for you or our son's. My dedication is my love for you, the purest kind of love you will ever know of._ Also, if he found them one day he'd have something to rub in the faces of all the ones that had said it couldn't be done. _You see this you fuckers, _he'd say, _I never gave up, I never stopped caring or loving or being dedicated to her or our son's. You don't give up on the ones you love, learn from this and maybe one day you'll grow up._ TazirVile Surfeit reached into his left back pants pocket and pulled out his white kerchief that had the burgundy embroidery around the sides and his initials, a T and a Z, stitched in real gold in the center, and wiped his face.

"Come along Reezal," he heard a woman say. "we're going to be late for your appointment if you keep stopping like you are."

"I'm sorry ma," a youngster replied. "I'm having to duck into shady areas, remember I cannot see when the sun is out."

He had nearly missed hearing that voice, he had heard it so many times up to one thousand, six hundred years ago then he had sort of forgotten it. No, he hadn't forgotten it, it had just evaporated from his memory. It was a strong voice, a young voice but one that had experience behind it and a voice that was honey-smooth like which cast a chill down his spine. He looked up in time to see something he had never expected to see on the planet he was on. Zeta Ren was in the Zeta Reticuli system, a galaxy that was thirty-nine lights years in human talk, or twelve parsecs in everyone else's talk, humanity hadn't even gotten out of the phase of driving more than just energized cars, they hadn't even dropped the tires on their vehicles for suspended driving yet, and they had dropped their space travel completely. There was no exception to what he was seeing, a human walking about on Zeta Ren? TazirVile blew his nose then placed his hanky in a case, he was not going to put his snot in his pocket, making his pants icky and gross and disgusting, before sliding it back in his pocket, he then began heading in the direction that he had seen the woman go in. He went a distance then turned a corner, there she was and Boy George, wasn't she a beauty!

It wasn't the height that got his attention, she was tall, about five foot, seven inches in height to be exact, and she was wearing a pair of faded denim jeans and a blue t-shirt with a pocket on the left breast, there were faded brown boots on her feet that looked as if they needed a cleaning or better yet, to be thrown away. It was automatic that he began comparing the woman to his wife, she was the same height that was for sure but when she turned he was sure that what he was looking at was her. Besides the gorgeous locks of fiery red hair, which was so bright it cast a red glow on the buildings and carts and stands that she walked by, he also saw from his distance of only ten feet away from her that she had emerald-green eyes. She turned around quickly afterwards so he couldn't see if she had a golden-yellow ring around a pair of black pupils or not.

"She's forever young, but that might not be her. Look at the kid by her. He looks to be in his mid-thousands, maybe a bit older or younger. The only son I can think of that we had that is that age is Lazeer and he's gone." he thought.

Like the program had said, Lazeer had been a sickly baby the three months he had known him. It had been a surprise, a good surprise, that his wife had caught pregnant and despite everyone's betting, card playing, calling and supposing, he had known that Angel's fourth child, the third by him, was his. She had gone to her father's palace on Gamma-Vile for a week, she had been clinging to a hope that her father would turn around and would stop not claiming her son's as his grandchildren and it had backfired on her. For five days and nights of the week that she had been with his nephew she had been raped, he had raped her harshly in his bedroom chamber saying that he was giving her the punishment that she had so needed to have, punishment that she had been due to have for so many years. When she had returned to him she had been battered, bruised and sore but her spirit hadn't been broken. A hundred years earlier she had tricked his nephew into dropping his curse on her not being able to have any other children except through him by simply turning on the charm, flirting and showing herself off. His nephew had undid the curse and then she had gotten pregnant with number two by him swiftly afterward although not by normal means. He had had sex with her a week after she had caught pregnant, she had gone to the Sperm Ward, a top security building on Gamma-Vile that carried all of the known sperm samples of males from prominent families and had gotten five vials of his semen. After his nephew had done the counter-curse, had made the curse go away after being seduced, she had impregnated herself with just one vial of his stored semen and had gotten pregnant right quick afterwards. He had found this out when he had asked how she had gotten pregnant before they had even had sex, the medical table had said she had been two weeks along and he had been only a week back home from taking his daughter to see her grandfather, he had been having his problems as well with family and was keeping his eye on his father when it came to his children. She had answered truthfully, she had even told him to search her memory if he didn't believe her. Regardless of the way she had gotten pregnant, artificial insemination or natural, he had accepted that she was pregnant with his next child and had looked forward to the birth of their second child together. Her deceiving his nephew, her father, had made him right angry. He had swore revenge on both of them but he hadn't done any curses or spells or charms against them. During the week that she had been with his nephew she had been told time and again that part of her punishment was because of her deception, which she had apologized for.

Yes, like the program had said, Hazaar had been said to be a girl but the program had not said how this had been discovered. It had been mutually decided between he and his wife to keep the gender of their unborn children secret, to keep what their children were a surprise. He had gotten excited as he had been checking her when she had been five months along, four hundred years of trying their best to be careful, of trying to not get pregnant, had come to this. A child, finally, a child had finally been conceived after the curse had been downed. His hand had jerked at the last minute and the thought-to-be genitals had been exposed. He had apologized, had said he had just been so happy and excited to be having a new little one running around in his house that he had lost control of his arm. His wife had understand and had said that since he had already gone and exposed the gender of the child that he might as well go on and confirm it. The screen had showed no male parts, no scrotum or penis, no nothing so he had taken that as his second unborn child as being a girl. Plans had been made, a name had been chosen then they had waited. Eshal had been ecstatic, she had wanted a sister pretty badly. She had been going around saying that she was going to be the best of sister's she could be and he had been damn proud of her. When Angel had entered her eighth month he had started sending out the invites, she had gotten him to skip her father and older half-siblings at first then had changed her mind. Near eighty had lived in his mansion, quite a lot but still his mansion had been spacious, two hundred rooms were still unoccupied and no one got in the way. When Angel had gone into labor and had given birth he had been esctatic. As soon as the baby had been born and had been placed on his wife's chest he had shouted out PhloowaVile Epa Surfeit.

"Uh, Lad," his grandfather, who had just walked over after he had just been handed the scissors to cut the cord, had said after his thought-to-be daughter had been born. "you better look again, I think that is a boy."

He had handed the scissors back then had checked their newborn, when he had seen that instead of a girl, a PhloowaVile Epa Surfeit to run around, beg her mother to help bake cookies, brownies, cakes and other sweets and bug her brother's ape-shit with her girly antics and be the sister that his oldest child, Eshal, wanted so bad, he had found that his and Angel's newborn had a penis. Whoops, not a girl after all. We don't have a Phloowa, my love. We have a brand, spankin' new baby boy here. Everyone had laughed, his nephew had looked up at the ceiling and had sighed frustratingly, then everyone had asked what their now known-to-be son was going to be named. That had been difficult, it was a good thing that the baby's chamber hadn't been painted pink because boy that would have been funny to have a son in a pink room. Noftagan had been thought of for the name of their new son, so had Epajik, Tureer, Zeeuh and Gragsne. In the end, it had been his father who had given the idea of the name. He had looked up at the ceiling, had been so very excited at having another grandson, and had said_ Hoozah, thank the Gods! I have a new grandson!_ His wife had looked at his father, her great-grandfather, then had said the word that he had said, only she had modified it some. Hazaar, good, catchy and also strong, he had liked it quite a lot and so had everyone else in the room. HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit it had been.

Lazeer, now he had been a fright when he had been born. He remembered that one well. He had been outside, getting a mare of his bred, when she had screamed out in terror. She had screamed so loudly that he could hear her outside of his house and Homsi, his most trusted Goblin butler, who had been in his quarters underneath the house, had heard it as well. He had left the two horses in the care of two Goblins who had ran up to assist then he had ran inside. A puddle of blood and yellow water had been on the stairs right between her feet, she had been shaking violently, out of fear, and she had also been crying and wailing no time and again. He had rushed her to Cawanuuk Hospital as quickly as he could, he had gotten three tickets in the process for speeding which he had payed afterwards. She had gone through a difficult delivery, the doctor's had wanted to do a Cesarian on her which she had demanded to not be done then she had been prepped for a natural birth. Ten hours after the water had broken, their third son had been born. They had named him quickly, thinking that if he did go that he should, at least, have a name. LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit had been said loudly, it had been written down then their tiny newborn had been whisked away. He had been fine all of the day of his birth, healthy, lively despite being very premature and had been drinking his mother's natural milk then he had gotten sick. He had been having trouble keeping his temperature up, he had stopped drinking his milk, had trouble breathing and had gotten an infection. He had gotten the best of doctor's on his and Angel's newborn, had payed nearly a million to get the best of care for him. He had been placed in a pod, had had tubing running all over him taking waste out, giving him milk and giving him oxygen to breathe. He and his wife had sat outside of his pod for three and a half weeks, hoping and praying that he would make it and be okay.

LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit had been born tiny, but he had been born weighing big. A good, healthy, 2 pounds at birth, he had looked like a chubby, tiny thing and he and she had loved him right off. The policy at the hospital was for a quick holding, the mother first followed by the father, then the baby had to be taken to the NICU. Lazeer had stayed with them for just over five minutes then he had been taken away. Angel had been frantic with fear, she had been so scared that their newborn wouldn't make it and that she'd never see him again and, in truth, so had he. He had comforted her, had held her, then the doctor had come in saying that the chances of their son living would be slim, but if he and she wanted to give it a try they could. They had done it, their son had stayed in the Neonatal intensive care unit for almost four weeks, the program had goofed on how long he had been in the NICU, it had said two weeks which was very wrong. The program had also gotten it wrong on who had been in the room with them and their son as well, his father hadn't come and neither had his grandfather either. Both had been too shocked to come to the hospital. It had been his stepfather and his neighbor and old school friend and still best friend, Gloar that had come and gone during the three and a half weeks. After three and a half weeks, the doctor's had said for him and Angel to take the infant and go home, spend as much time with him as they could because they had reached the end of their being able to keep him going. It had been estimated that their son would be dead in less than two days, their son had lived for three months after that, he had gone way past expectations and was thriving. Although they had both been overjoyed at their little premature baby making it in life, Angel had been going through her stresses. Besides dealing with an eight hundred and one year old, a six hundred year old, a five hundred year old, a one hundred year old and a four-month old she had also been dealing with her father, his nephew.

The program had gotten that part right, she had been told by her father that he was taking her away from it all, from him, Eshal, and from all four of her son's but the program had missed the part on his nephew saying that he had agreed to her being taken away from it all. That had been a great, big lie! He had said no such thing, he had not agreed in her being taken away from everyone and he had also not agreed that she be given a potion to wipe her memory clean of the past five hundred years. His wife had gone silent on him for three days, she had gotten shocked by his nephew's words then she had grabbed all four of her son's and had disappeared. So many important details had been either discarded, not talked about, not exposed or plain just ignored in the program. He was angry at the missed information. A closure for Angel Irene and her son's, Bile Vile, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit, HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit and LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit? Not a chance, he was going to keep looking and searching, there was no closure until he found something. Although it pained him to think it, he did think that his youngest son had passed away, he had been so sickly and small, so premature. TazirVile was snapped out of his thoughts and the walk down memory lane when the woman called back at the youth following her.

"Reezal, we only have four more buildings to go. Get up here, honey."

"Hold on," the youth replied, TazirVile saw that the youth was hiding underneath a hanging tarp. The red sun above had come out from under the clouds, he seemed to be hiding from it.

"Reezal," the woman walked back then stood by the youth. "don't worry, I'll get you some help. Tears me up to see you having to hide so much."

"Tears me up to, ma." the youth said. "Wait, what? I'm being torn apart? Mommy! Make the ropes become cut! I want my body in all one piece."

"Even in hiding, you manage to crack a joke."

"Have you known me to not crack a joke?"

"Only when you couldn't talk." the woman replied.

TazirVile stopped, he told himself to get a grip on himself, the woman was probably the wife to one of the men on the planet, a wife that had been kept secret in the house because she was human. There had only been one being that had met and had married a human from Earth and that had been Pazib Clobor and the marriage had only lasted for a year before they had separated. Humans were said to be dull in comparison to everyone else in the universe, they were a very low-life, low-minded being. They were violent as well, in the last two thousand, two hundred years there had been ten wars started on Earth, four world wars, four continental wars and two wars that had been solely fought because of an oil shortage. If humanity was willing to fight over oil then they were surely of the violent sort and were surely to be left alone. His nephew, who owned the planet Earth, even stayed off of the planet. It wasn't because the humans were violent, it was because he couldn't get into the government. Although he had conquered the planet and claimed to own and rule it, he had not been able to get into the government system and change the laws because of his daughter's shields. Angel had been a fighter, she had fought plenty but her fighting had had purpose. Despite her claim to have human genes in her, although very little, she was very different than the typical humans on the planet. TazirVile looked at the youth beside the fiery red-haired woman. Tall, about six-foot exactly and still growing, had a lean, strong body that belied his age and periwinkle-blue skin. His eyes were circular in size, but they were silvery. What set him off as being the woman's son was the hair. He had a thin row of red hair, two inches in width, going around the back of head, it stopped at the sides of the youth's head. He had no viewable ears, his mouth was O-shaped and he had holes where a nose would be. The youth was wearing a pair of gray pants that were ripped at the knees and a netted shirt, on his feet were gray and brown shoes. When the clouds drifted in front of the red sun the two started off again, TazirVile saw them off then intended to turn and head away. He saw the two as just random people, a mother and her young son heading to an appointment. His legs, though, prevented him from heading away from the two, he followed them as they walked on. He sighed and just went on, letting his feet take him wherever they went then saying that once they got to their destination he'd turn and go away and would never see them again. The fiery red-haired mother and her son went into a building, the woman opened a glass door that said Navub Babusa, Optometrist, Eye Care Specialist. TazirVile sighed when the two entered the building then tried to leave. He took one step away from the building then stopped, something was stopping him from walking away from the building, from leaving the two be. With a frustrated sigh, TazirVile sat down in a chair and waited for the pair. If his mental state was going to do this, if his legs were going to make him no go away from the two then he might as well just wait for them to leave the building then go in himself to ask the man, Navub Babusa, if he could see the camera photos and video of the pair. Just to get his mind straight, just to put this whole strange following put to bed.

Navub Babusa, OD, didn't look up when the bell tolled, telling him that someone had come into his building. As of the past three days he had done a lot of appointments, almost fifty on the first day, forty on the second and then sixty-five on the last day, parents were coming in quick to get their kids fitted for their goggled glasses, either a mild pair which was covered in sun-blocking properties which took up only three-quarters of the lense, a mildly severe pair which was half of the lense or the lenses for the severe sort which were full. He had all kinds of goggled specks in his building, not just the full pairs but also monocles and contacts as well. After attending Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic he had attended the Academy of Medicine, fully intending to get an education and work in some sort of medical field. He had inherited a severe case of PSE, or Photo Sensitive Eyes, as it had been called back a hundred thousand years ago and was now simply called, the Special Ailment of the Eyes, or SAE, so he had wanted to help others who had the eye ailment and had gone for that education. After five hundred years, he had gotten his license and had begun practicing. His first building had been small, a two room, but he had been successful. After fifty thousand years of saving up, scrimping and scraping every spare dollar he came upon, he had bought his first big building. He had been moderately successful, the bills had been payed but he hadn't anything extra. For twenty-five thousand years he had lived like this then had asked his wife, who he had treated for a mild ailment of the eye forty-seven years before and had fallen in love with. He and Yoshiar had dated for a while, had chatted about marriage but hadn't gone into it fully. She had given birth to one child by him, a daughter named Falvia, then she had left him. He had been half a man afterwards, had worked his profession being only half there, half in his body and half in spirit then she came back. They had made up, discussion had begun on marriage and they had gone through with it. She had had a son by a different man, a man who had forced himself on her and had stayed away thinking that he wouldn't take her back because she had produced another man's offspring. He had said balls on that, after the marriage he had raised the other man's son as his own. His wife had said for him to do some small advertising on low-cost appointments, he had started his practise at charging $3199 per goggled glass sold, he knew his charge was high but when it came to producing the best of eye-wear you couldn't charge small prices, you did have to bring in a profit. He had dropped his charge to $2100 and boy had the costumers come in.

Sun Block in a goggle lense was not cheap, it required for the lense to be exposed to the rays of all of the suns and stars that were in the universe that planets orbited then having a fitting placed over the exposure then having several other layers added on top of that, one having a drip system built into the lense so it provided the eye with moisture while hidden behind the lense. He had made only $200 from his former charging, if he saw only twenty patients a day that would bring his profits up to four thousand dollars, just enough to pay the bills but not enough to keep the cabinets full, buy the occasional gift for his wife and children or go out and buy that car that he so desperately needed as, at the time, he had been taking the bus or riding a bike to work. He had done what his wife had suggested, he had dropped the price, had done the advertising then had waited and boy howdy, had them customers come in. Eighty a day, he had begun bringing in just under eight grand a day come closing which meant that not only could he and his new wife live more comfortably and have more food in the kitchen, but also he could afford to go out on a spending spree and buy his wife, daughter and son a few gifts. The car had come later, ten years later to be exact but he had risked the dangerous bus ride that had its questionable characters sitting on it and riding to work on a bike, risking being struck by the passing vehicles or having someone jump and rob him blind. Thirty thousand years later, the price was the same, the specks were the same but there had been an increase in customers. Just them past three days he had made $15,200, a damn good profit.

There were other optometrists in the area, others who had been in the area far longer than he and who charged less but offered a lesser quality product that needed to be replaced once every two years. That was how them other optometrists worked and earned their money, from customers having to come back to get a new pair of specks. His goggled glasses, goggled monocles and goggled contact lenses lasted for ten years and they had a guarantee that if they were split, the drip system dried up and made the lenses crack or if the elastic band ripped during the ten years of their lifespan a new pair would be given out for next to nothing. Those other optometrists didn't do that, for them if the specks broke it meant more opportunity to milk the customer for another three grand. When the bell tolled he nodded his head, the day was just starting so he was expecting the customers to come filtering in, business was slower during the holidays and since that day was Monday, the start of Family Week, he expected to have only twenty to twenty-five patients that day, the same for the rest of the week.

"Hello, is Mr. Babusa in today?" he heard a woman say. "I called him last night, my son has an appointment."

"Sign in, I'll be right with you." Navub Babusa replied, he was looking through the appointment cards, doing a quick count and remembering names.

After the three-day work rush, and having a hundred and fifty-two patients, he had been too tired to stay up the night before to watch tv with his family. His wife was up, saying she would be up for a short while longer as she wanted to watch a very important program, but his two son's and three daughter's had gone up to bed. He had showered quickly, dressed then had slipped into bed. He had fallen asleep right before the program had begun, had he of watched the program he would of noticed that there was something odd about the woman in front of him. She was a beautiful woman, had long, fiery red hair which, curiously, cast a glow around the waiting room, and emerald-green eyes that, again curiously, had a golden-yellow ring around a single black pupil. The woman signed in, she was the mother, an Ayla Bakerly, and her son was named Reezal Bakerly. After checking the sign in, checking the signature to be sure it wasn't falsely written, he led the two down the hallway to a room where an eye examining device hung down from the ceiling. A row of cabinets was around the room, they were white, and there was a box that had types of lenses on top. Two chairs, both normal, brown ones, were placed on either side of the device. Navub Babusa took his seat in front of the device while the youth sat down in front of him.

"Before we do the test, what are his symptoms?" he asked the youth's mother. "How does he act in direct sunlight?"

"He shrieks and begins crying from the pain then goes blind soon after." the youth's mother replied.

"Both eyes or just one?"

"One, the left."

"To be on the safe side, we'll check both eyes." Navub slid a disc that had a sample of sunlight on it into his device. "Look into the holes, you might see a bright light in three... two... one."

The bright flash of white light went into the youth's right eye, although the youth blinked his eye then squinted he didn't show the typical signs of an ailment in that eye. To be on the safe side, though, he gave a test for the other rays of the suns and stars in the universe. The youth reacted normally, he blinked his eye then squinted, he didn't yell out or push himself away or begin to tear up which was typical for the mild photo sensitivity that some of his species had. Navub then went to the other eye, this one did show the signs of an ailment, it was slightly darker than the other, to the naked, untrained eye the youth would be said to have both eyes, human-like in design, silver but he was educated and trained to see the differences. He slid the first slide into the device then said the three, two, one then clicked the device on. The youth shrieked and pulled himself back, had there of been no back to his chair he would have fallen to the floor. The youth held his hand in front of that eye, when the youth lowered his hand Navub saw that there were tears flowing from the eye he had just tested.

"Does he act this way with all sunlight, from other suns and stars in the universe?" he asked the youth's mother.

"Yes, poor thing cannot go outside at all when the sky is clear and the sun is up." the mother replied.

"He has a mildly-severe case of PSE in his left eye," Navub said, one test was enough, he didn't want to traumatize or hurt the youth anymore by running any further tests. "I can fit him for one goggled glass."

"Before you do," Navub looked at the woman, he had been reaching for his lense type kit when she had spoken. "what is your price for his speck?"

"Twenty-one hundred, ma'am." he replied, the woman, at once, got a defeated look on her face. "Is there a problem, ma'am?"

"My son needs his glass, every where we have gone we've been told a price of over that. Your price is the best but we can't afford that. Not right now, at least."

He hated, absolutely hated, sending his customers away knowing that they needed the item for which they had come in to be tested for. He had seen several customers walk away without a pair of goggled glasses or a goggled glass or a goggled contact lense, he had never asked himself why they had come in the first place, why they had wasted his time or even why there had been no bring ups of dividing the price into payments. He'd of gladly let his customers who were low on funds pay in installments, he was a man who liked to help people and when he saw his customers walk away without what they had come to be tested for he always felt a sort of sorrow. As always, after the woman had said that she couldn't afford the goggled lense for her son, he reached into the top drawer of the cabinet nearest him and took out four bottles of liquid drops. He undid the plastic around one then handed it to the youth then he held the other three out to his mother.

"On the house," he said. "no charge."

"These drops won't hurt him will he?" the woman asked, concern was heavy on her face. "The last place we went gave us drops as well, but I had to pay for them and they burned his eyes something awful."

"Like hot sauce awful." the youth added.

"No ma'am, these are specifically for his type of sensitivity. The drops you were given were most probably for severe PSE." Navub Babusa felt angered by being told that the youth, who looked no more than one thousand, six hundred years old, had been given drops for a form of photo sensitivity that were for severe cases. The wrong PSE drops can very well damage the eye, cause extreme pain and could also make the sensitivity worsen. The bottles he handed over said specifically on the label For Mild-Severe PSE Only.

"When I get the funds for his glass I'll return to you." the woman said,

When the woman took the three, medicated liquid drops bottles from him he noticed that she had a ring on her ring finger. It was a pretty ring, and looked right expensive. It had an oval aquamarine gem set beautifully between three rows of diamonds. The top row had vanilla diamonds while the two other rows had chocolate diamonds on them. Surely it was a wedding ring and surely, if she had that on her finger she could afford the goggled glass that her son needed. He was about to say something about the ring when he remembered that he had given his wife a three diamond ring for their engagement. They had been struggling then as well, surely this woman and her husband were in the same way. Her husband had loved her enough to spend quite a lot of money that he did not have on a ring for their special day. From the way the two were dressed, he guessed that the husband, Mr. Bakerly, worked long hours only to bring a small paycheck home that only just got them by. Navub stood up from his chair and led the two, the youth had already applied the drops to his eye and had said that he was fine and could see again, out of the room. He saw them out of his building then went back to his desk. He drew a line through Ayla and Reezal Bakerly, wrote down that the appointment had been completed then added the time that it had been completed then he went to just plain sitting back at the desk. He had just placed his hands behind his head, lacing the fingers that had suction-cups on the tips, when TazirVile Surfeit opened then walked through the door.

When the man behind the desk jumped at his entrance he couldn't help but smile slightly, never in his existence had there not been someone jumping when he had entered a room or a building unexpectantly. It was his reputation as a conqueror, as a ruler and as the secondborn son of DuruVile Surfeit that made people jump. The man behind the desk, a Zetakin that had a headful of brown hair, triangular-shaped eyes that were a golden color and an O-shaped mouth, jumped, leaned forward in his chair then stood up. TazirVile Surfeit reached into his back pocket as he walked forward, he took out the photograph of his wife, the photograph he had used on all them millions of fliers and all them news bulletins and the newspaper articles had published, it was the most recent of photographs that he had of his lovely wife and he carried it with him always. When he got up to the desk he got professional, the woman and her son had walked out, they hadn't even seen him leaning up against the building, then he had gone in.

"Mr. Surfeit... how may I serve you today?" the man, whose name tag said Navub Babusa, OD, asked quickly as soon as he got to the desk.

"Mr. Babusa, I've been searching for over a thousand years for my wife and the woman who just came in here looked like her."

Navub knew about the search, Mr. Surfeit had put billions into looking for her and the four son's she had disappeared with. He understood well how the man was feeling, he'd act the same way if one of his suddenly disappeared with no word on why or where they were going, and especially so if there were four littles ones involved in the disappearance. Angel Irene had been conceived during the night of the Universal Eclipse, which only happened once every five hundred years, and had been born on Earth. Although her mother was a woman named Helen of Earth, she had been born to her daughter who had already been in the womb by the time Master Vile and Helen had had their one, one night stand together. Angel Irene had been raised tough, been raised in caves and had been treated roughly by her raiser until she had gone off to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic at a tender age, she had personally said that it had taken her twenty-two years before she had reached the age of eleven years old and right after her birthday she had been approached by the teachers who had come to ask her to enroll in the school. At that time, she had been picked solely because she had shown magical powers, Elemental Powers to be specific with Energy Powers being a little less developed. She had been picked for the Outreach Program for Lower Life Planetary Organisms that had Special Abilities, or O.P.L.L.P.O.S.A as it had been called back then and had gone. Angel Irene had been discovered as a child of Vile Vile, or as he was better known as Master Vile, by the very man himself and he had gone to retrieve her only to find himself dealing with one high-strong woman. It had taken the combination of the whole family to bring her in, and by that time she had had two children, one by the man standing in front of him now.

As he took the photograph he was automatically struck with the chills, his body grew cold and he shivered twice. The photograph was a large one that looked like it had once been in a 10x13 picture frame, the colors were so crisp and clear, it looked like a brand new picture but he knew that it wasn't. Angel Irene had gone missing one thousand, six hundred years ago and from what the man in front of him had said, who was the last of the Surfeit family that was still searching for her, she was still missing. He had thought he'd be seeing the woman who had come in earlier again in a few months, after she had acquired the cash to pay for her son's goggled glass, he was dead wrong because, either the woman had a twin that was identical or the woman who had visited his building had been the real, the true and the still alive Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit. TazirVile Surfeit must have noticed him comparing and the look of recognition because, when he took the photograph back, he had a vibe flowing from him. Excitement, of the purest form.

"I-I think I have seen her, j-just now." Navub said shakily.

"Do you have a security camera in here?" TazirVile Surfeit asked. "I'd like to confirm who came into your establishment myself."

"Yessir," Navub Babusa walked around his desk, walked across his waiting room to the door. He turned the sign that said his building was open to customers so it would say closed then he turned around and walked towards the back of his building. "follow me, Mr. Surfeit. My security room is in the back, you can view and take any photographs or recordings that you wish of the woman that came in here."

"Thank you, that is very grateful of you." TazirVile Surfeit said as he followed the man.


	3. Chapter 3

The chores had been been done hours before, the dishes had been cleaned, the sheets and blankets on the used beds had been washed, hung outside to dry then had been brought inside and folded afterwards, lunch had been cooked and was waiting to be eaten, the windows on the three floors of her home had been sprayed and wiped clean, not a smudge or line was in them and the floor in the kitchen had also been washed and waxed. Ashaklar had had an eventful morning, all the cleaning was normal routine for her and she was glad for it, she was glad to have something in her house to do, she was glad that besides tending her children and tending her chickens she also had housework to do. If it wasn't for the housework she would have gone crazy, she was an active woman, always had been and always will be. Although the morning had been busy with work around the house she had had to deal with giving a caller a good kick in the butt just before heading off to begin making lunch. Her ex-husband had called, asking where his son and granddaughter were and she had simply said that they were too busy dealing with their real family to deal with people who could care a hill of beans for them.

Duru had done his usual, he had exploded, he had ran his mouth, he had threatened, she had just sat down and had waited. This was exactly the way he had acted in their marriage, if she so much had asked for him to get her something in town when he had been off with his few buddy friends he had snapped and said you want me to bring you a tub of jello as well or a keg of dish soap? She had never asked him for gifts, had never asked him to pick her up a necklace or a bracelet or even a dress, it had usually been household items such as food for the cabinets, cleaning supplies such as Windex, soap, a pack of sponges or Dawn floor soap. He had employed staff, he had butlers and maids, but she liked cleaning as well, she had been raised to be the woman of the house, to not just sit on her bum, get fat and abuse the help. Cheshire and she had help, they had four maids and four butlers, but she still did a lot of work in the house. When her ex had stopped his rambling she had said calmly, are you finished, you really need to get someone to fix your attitude problem because it's doing nothing but driving people from you. Before he could start up again, insulting her and calling her all sorts of names, she had placed the phone down on its handle. At that time her husband and one of her son's had walked back in the house, the things she had asked for them to get in town had been gotten and she had been surprised by a gift, a new dress from her husband and she had seen them coming in with more so she was sure that the other ladies in the house had also received a gift. When she hadn't seen her oldest son, Tazir, she had asked where he was and had been told that he had wandered off on his own. She had decided to leave him be, he could get a way back home, whether by vehicle or by teleporting.

"Horses been fed? How about the goats? Sheep? Chickens?" Cheshire was asking Amadh, who had just come down from showering and changing into a pair of green pants that was held up by a brown leather belt and a black and green long sleeve, button down shirt. He had his brown shoes hanging from his finger by the loops at the heel, he had just white socks on his feet at the moment.

"Everything, even the Almas poppa." Amadh said. "Also been given water, Efagti can muck out the stalls later."

"Phaggo can muck out the stalls later, Efagti and I need to check the crops." Cheshire said quickly.

Ashaklar smiled at the backside of her husband, he was teaching his son's how to work and live on a farm and how to act in life very well. Her husband had an impression education. She knew he had attended the University of Telepathy first then had gone to Zeta Dooblar's School of Teaching, which had thoroughly pissed his family off, for three hundred years then he had gone to Zeta Yiaz's Academy of Finances, which had calmed his family down, he had told her, for four hundred years before, finally, heading off to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. He had eaten up a lot of fees because of his age at the time of his enrollment in the latter school and had graduated after three hundred years, he had gone on an extra hundred years as he had wanted a few extra teachings taught to him before he left the school. He had started teaching at a local high school soon after returning to Zeta Ren but, after a hundred years, his ambition to own and replicate, yet perfect, what his father had done which had nearly gotten him disowned had gripped him so hard and bad that he had decided to go on a half-leave for ten years afterwards. He had bought over a hundred acres of land he had been keeping his eye on for a long time then, soon after, he had started mining. He had used both his money and his family's money to acquire the land and when his family had found out they had demanded that he put everything back that he had taken from the vaults. He had planted in fifty of his one hundred acres of bought land and while he waited for the produce to be mature enough to pick and then sell, he mined. He had found, in ten of his fifty unplanted acres of land, large collections of oil which had made him a millionaire almost overnight and with that, he had payed his family back then had wiped his hands of them. He had gone back to his purchased land a year after the oil discovery, he had planted crops and had tended them and had then harvested them with, afterwards, selling them to the stores around the planet. When the harvesting season was done, he had gone back to mining. To his collective surprise, he had found the universe's most valuable and fashionable, yet rare, natural grown substance: gold glass. He had found so much that he was assured rich for life, every day he made anywhere between a hundred thousand to a million dollars. Despite the discovery of oil and gold glass on his purchased lands he had still planted and harvested. He had been retired from teaching for a very long time now, he had acquired his dream and was keeping at it.

She, on that first date, had been careful in telling him about her life. His life had been so full of fine things, of fine discoveries. Her life had started out fine, the Zoopray's were a prominent family in the Zeta Reticuli system as well but not as much as the Ubalki's, she had been raised well, had been taught well and had gone to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, The University of Telepathy and the Academy of Womanhood, the latter being an educational system that taught young ladies how to act with their husbands, how to keep the house clean and tidy and how not to be push-overs, to stand up when you had to, keep your trap shut when it called for it and how to keep your husband in line. She had started slow on her former marriage, had said that she had married young and that the man had been a big mistake, but her children from her marriage she loved greatly, thought the world of and came first above everyone else and that included herself. Cheshire had asked her who her former husband was and she, tentatively, had said DuruVile Surfeit. Despite the name, and the status and the fact that she had married rather young. She had said that she had married the guy and was sorry to of done so, she had said she had been young and stupid then and it had nearly put one of her children in a grave. Cheshire, when she had told of how her ex had treated Tazir, had shook his head and had said that the man was a disgrace and that he didn't want to hear anymore... but that he did want to see her children. He had seen Qeeta first, then, he had seen Tazir. The two had hit it off right good and they had a good relationship now. Why, her husband proudly proclaimed Tazir as his step-son and Tazir loudly called him his stepper. Qeeta, nowadays, called him stepper as well.

"Mrs. Ubalki," a maid called, she had a phone in her hand. "phone for you."

"Who is it?"

"Azyaha Clorb," the maid replied, Ashaklar walked forward and took the phone.

"Azyaha, how are you this midday?" she asked happily, despite Azyaha and her husband, Scoyfol Clorb living two miles down the road from them they were good friends.

"Have you seen what's being reported on the news?" Azyaha Clorb asked.

"I have been busy this morning, I haven't had time for tv." Ashaklar replied.

"Turn your tv on," Azyaha said excitedly. "do it now, they've been running this story for a long time now."

Ashaklar was in her living room, was near the dark gray S-shaped couch that had light gray cushions that her husband had bought and had payed a pretty penny for almost two hundred years earlier. There was two sections to the couch, the first swirls cushions were facing forward while the second swirls was facing the other way, between the two swirls was a unique wooden phone that had chrome flowery designs on it. The phone was seated on a light brown wooden table that had a single drawer on the front which a notepad that had numbers on it with family members names written alongside, the notepad was there because her husband sometimes forgot phone numbers. Besides the notepad with the phone numbers in it in the drawer there was also a ball-point pen in there as well. Her living room was elegantly designed, besides the S-shaped couch and the unique phone, there was also two brown, elegant chairs that had white cushions on the back and seat and a white stone bench was placed over near the white gold, wallpapered wall from which a 50" screen was mounted on. Four vases, the two on the ends normal while the two on the inside having a Tulip-effect to their design, were on the bench, they had yellow and blue flowers in them. Vases were one of her favorites decorative items, they went with everything and looked so nice, they also brought a brightness to the room and house. Ashaklar sat down on the couch, reached over and took the remote to the tv up from the long, dark walnut coffee table. She clicked the power button, the tv turned on. There was the zap, then there was a static sound followed by darkness for a few seconds then the screen showed the program that was being done. Her son, Amadh, liked to watch a show called The Files of 8 which was an alien sitcom, it usually showed two segments, two different stories that had a meaning to them, in one program. Ashaklar quickly changed the channel from 32 to 12, she nearly dropped the phone when she saw her son being interviewed by a reporter, the caption underneath him had his name on it while a little bar in the far corner said LIVE.

"Yes! My wife was seen today, I've seen the security tape that has her on it. She is alive, she looks well and it also looks like one of my son's was with her." Ashaklar's mouth dropped, was her son actually saying what she thought he was saying?

"Do you know where she came from? Where she went? Where was she taped?" an unseen reporter was asking her son.

"I have no idea where she came from or where she went, she was seen and video taped inside Goggles for All, owned by Navub Babusa."

"Are you looking further into this discovery?" the unseen reporter asked her son.

"I am, Navub is checking his logs, she called him last night so I'm hoping that I can pinpoint where she was when she called." her son answered the reporter quickly.

"I imagine you are thrilled at this find, the program on your wife was shown last night..."

"I am more than thrilled, I'm about to leap into the sky!" her son said loudly.

"Did the security tape have the youth on it as well?" the unseen reporter asked.

"Yes! He looks in fine shape, I am greatly surprised at how healthy he looks!" her son did look like he was about to do some jumping, he was very excited.

"Will photographs be shown of the two?" the unseen reporter asked her son. "Will you have the photographs of your wife and son be shown out to the public to see if anyone else has seen them?"

"As soon as I get whatever information Mr. Babusa has filed away I will be doing just that."

Ashaklar and her husband waited, the others in the house knew what was happening but the two kept them busy by giving them chores, Phaggo and Amadh were given the chore of checking the wheat and sugar cane that were grown in the field beside an unplanted field that was in back of the house while Blaiga, Qeeta and Eshal were given the chore of cleaning the carpets in the house. Qhuakiz and Defe, being too young to know what was happening, were allowed to go out and play. Lunch was placed in brown bags and given out, Ashaklar and Cheshire ate in the living room, something they rarely did. Nothing new came about in the reports for three hours, her husband took the plates back to the kitchen and was just coming back into the living room when a news bulletin, a fresh one, was flashed on the screen. Ashaklar, just as excited as could be, gestured for her husband to come over. He had just sat down when the reporter, a male Zetakin that had a headful of black hair, a pencil-thin, black mustache and wearing a black tuxedo, began his report.

"Several hours ago we began running re-runs of a discovery following a program on a much searched for missing woman, not much was found after our report until just thirty minutes ago." the report said, Ashaklar was on the edge of the couch, her husband wrapped his arm around her to keep her on the couch. "Here is Sossios Wonfourn with the report. Sossios,"

"Thank you, Croux," Ashklar kept it in, Sossios Wonfourn was a handsome Zetakin! He looked tall in his reports, had light yellow skin which was rare in their species and had triangular, red eyes. She had a little reporters crush on the man but, if she had ever met him in life, it would only remain at that. She was still in love with her husband, forever and ever, she would always say. Sossios Wonfourn was walking in a building, tables were set up and there were four investigators working and near the third table, talking on the phone, was her son, Tazir. "TazirVile Surfeit has been working hard all day today after the discovery of his wife being seen on camera and, after hours of getting nothing, he has found not just one detail but two. Navub Babusa, after searching his records of the past nights calls, discovered the number the woman thought to be Angel Irene used to get in contact with him which he gave over to Mr. Surfeit swiftly afterwards. TazirVile Surfeit, the son of DuruVile Surfeit and Ashaklar Zoopray, tracked the number which, at first, sent him no where then he called in a Phone Technician to help. Cruav Dualoa, the technician, was able to successfully track the number down after an hour of tracking."

"It took a while, it was difficult, but the call was done through an old age phone that had previously been down due to the lines being disrupted." Sossios Wonfourn was holding his mic up to a man named Cruav Dualoa, a short Zetakin that had thick black rimmed, goggled glasses and dark blue skin. The caption underneath him said Cruav Dualoa, Z. R. Telephone Technician. "The call was sent through a pay phone in a location on Earth called Albany that is located in the state of New York. Payphones on Earth were all disconnected in the year two thousand, one hundred and three but they were all left up and kept intact as a way to show the next generations who were not raised with them around what they were. Each phone had an information plaque near it, telling how one used the device, how much cash it took for the phone to be used and why it was used. There are no humans on Earth who could reassemble such a device as they have all grown away from knowing how to rewire it. We believe that there is only one person around today that could rewire a payphone and that could very well of been Angel Irene."

"She was around during that era, right?" Sossios Wonfourn asked the technician.

"Most definitely, Tazir says she had good technical smarts so she would be able to rewire and reconnect a phone that is down with ease." the technician replied, he then turned and began working again.

"The next find was, after the names that were used by the woman very thought to be Angel Irene and the youth that was with her that is thought to be HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit were given out, the call from an Optometrist from Zeta Chible was received. Ayla Bakerly, who is thought to be Angel Irene, visited the planet with the same youth that was seen this morning just a week ago." Sossios Wonfourn said, when her son placed the phone down on its cradle and turned around the reporter walked over to him. "Mr. Surfeit, you've had quite a day today. Are there any further developments?"

"At the moment, no. I've got one of the investigators here to go to Zeta Chible to see a man named Jluk Disselpoof who claims that he also saw my wife and the youth that I saw with her." her son answered Sossios Wonfourn's question.

"Resources tell me that you're about to return to your family, who will be in charge of the investigating? Will it be ongoing?"

"The searching will go on, I have no intention of letting it drop." her son said. "Mursod Strogonar will take charge until I get back tomorrow."

Her son returned just before supper was placed on the table, although he looked tired he also had an air of excitement around him that was keeping him from falling asleep. As he took his place at the mahogany table, long enough to take all of them plus ten other people, and began eating they were all tight-lipped but the question was very eminent on their faces. Was it, indeed, Angel Irene that you saw, did you get a still from the video of her and what of the youth, did you also get a still of him as well? Although the news had said that they'd show the photographs of the woman who was thought to be Angel Irene and the youth that she had been with, no such photographs had been aired. It was just the old re-runs, nothing new had been discovered, nothing new happening. The re-runs had been pushed to the last run of the news segments, if anything new had come up then it would be one of the first stories told. TazirVile finished his griddled chicken, his tots then had gone onto eating his salad when her oldest son, bravely, asked him the much wanted to be asked question. Ashaklar, her husband, Eshal and everyone else at the table waited in quiet, TazirVile wiped his face with a napkin then reached into his inner burgundy tuxedo jacket pocket.

"She is, without a shadow of doubt, my wife." he said, he took out a brown, leather case, opened it then took out two photographs. He handed one of them over to his mother first.

"That or a spot-on twin!" Ashaklar exclaimed, there was no mistaking that the fiery red-head in the photograph that had emerald-green eyes that had a single golden-yellow ring around the black pupils was his son's wife. "She looks none different than she was when she disappeared."

"She looks great! In great shape, nothing changed in her physical appearance, looks very healthy." TazirVile then handed the photograph of the youth that had been sighted with the woman who he believed with all of his heart was his wife to his mother.

Ashaklar had seen what her third grandchild, Hazaar, had looked like after birth. He had been born having dark blue skin and two, slanted sideways, oval eyes that had been a dark purple color that had been shiny. The youth in the photograph did not look like Hazaar, for one he had periwinkle-blue colored skin and for two, he had human-like eyes that were a full shiny silvery color. Also, what made Ashaklar think that the youth in the photograph wasn't Hazaar was the hair. He had a thin line of hair going in a C-fashion around his head that was red. Hazaar had been born with a small tail of hair sprouting out from the nape of his head that had been a deep purple color. She had joked that, after her third grandchild had reached the age of fifty, he did have some female qualities to him as the small tail of hair had grown out slightly. Her ex-husband had wanted her son to shave it off as it made Hazaar look downright funny, Tazir had stood up to his father and had said that he was not going to do anything of the sort. Ashaklar handed the photograph over to her husband, unlike her who had kept her opinion on the youth and his thought-to-be identity as HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit he said his thoughts out loud.

"Well the woman is Angel, not doubt on that, but who in the world is this youngster?"

"I'm thinking Hazaar, cannot be Lhaklar or Bile." TazirVile replied.

"Can't be Hazaar," QeetaVile, who now had the photograph, said. "Hazaar had a little tail of hair on the nape of the back of his head. This youth has red hair going in a C around the back and sides of his head."

"Possibly grew his hair out? Got a new style?" TazirVile said, he now had a confused look on his face.

"Hazaar also had dark blue skin and slanted, oval eyes that were a dark purple color." Ashaklar said.

"And the small tail of hair on the nape of the back of his head was dark purple as well." QeetaVile added.

"This fellow has periwinkle-blue skin and circular, full silver, eyes." Cheshire said. "This can't be Hazaar, Tazir. Nothing matches up."

After eating supper, TazirVile went upstairs to his chamber and pulled out the small photograph book that he carried with him always. He carried the photograph album with him as a habit, just in case he needed to show some pictures of his wife and son's in his searches. The room he was in had a large bed in it, it had white sheets that had gold floral designs on them and a black blanket. Two large pillows were on the bed, they were encased in white pillow cases that had a single bar of gray going down the center. A black bed side table had a black alarm clock on it with a black phone sitting next to the clock and a black vase from which a black and red rose was standing erect in sat next to the bed while sitting up in front of the window was a black wicker chair with a black pillow near one of the arms. The floors were light brown wooden, very polished and cleaned, and the walls were creamy based with gray vine designs that had green leaves on them. The ceiling was cream-colored, a chandelier with pendulums of glass hung down from the center of the bed. Another black bed side table sat over near the corner, it had a black lamp sitting on the surface that had a black lace lamp shade. There were cream-colored curtains hanging down from a rod over the window, at the moment they were pulled over the window. A black dresser was off near the northern wall, it had a bowl on top of it with a towel folded nicely next to it, a mirror was mounted up above the dresser. TazirVile, when he got into the bedroom chamber that he had always stayed in when he had visited his mother and stepfather for a lengthy stay, took his burgundy tuxedo jacket with the long tail in the back that draped down to the floor off and placed it on a five rod, coat rack that was silver. He took his small, photograph album and the two stills he had gotten made from the security tape that had captured the woman who he believed was his wife and the youth she had walked into Navub Babusa's establishment with over to his bed. He sat down then opened the album.

He had been caught up with his excitement and had taken the youth with the fiery red-head as his second son, Hazaar, but his family had gotten him to come down from the sky by pointing out the physical differences. Here he was now, doing a quick confirmation of their pointing outs of the youth. He turned the pages, going past several photographs of him and Angel, of him, Angel and Lhaklar, singles of Angel, singles of Bile and Lhaklar and then he came to the photographs of Hazaar. The proof was right there in front of his face, he had taken the singles of each of his son's himself, all of the singles in the album in front of him had been taken by him while the ones of him and Angel and him and Angel and one or more of their children had been taken by his neighbor, Gloar. There was Hazaar as a baby, no more than ten years old and still looking very babyish. It took a hundred and fifty years before one of the alien species to begin looking like a toddler, there was a slow rate of growth in the alien species but everyone was okay with that. Longer time to spend with the kids, experience all the phases that were long stretched out and the assured immortality. Here was HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, his eyes open from just being woke up from a nap, just before he began crying from being woke up from his nap by him who so desperately wanted a photograph of him as a fresh, new and now ten-year old infant. Here was his ten-year old infant son, his second son, who had dark blue skin and slanted, oval eyes that were a dark purple color. The next photo on the next page showed the single short tail of hair that grew from the nape of the back of his head which, like his younger sister had pointed out, was a dark purple color.

TazirVile sighed in despair, he had been caught up with all the excitement, all of the new developments, with finding that his wife was alive and well. He had been so caught up that he had forgotten the physical details of his second son. TazirVile slowly closed the album, he left the youth's photograph between the photograph he had taken of Hazaar's short tail of hair on the nape of the back of his head and the photograph of his third son, taken just after he had gotten home. TazirVile Surfeit placed the album on his bed side table then stood up, at first he was filled with sadness then he began to wonder if, if indeed the woman he had seen earlier who had signed her name as Ayla Bakerly was his wife, Angel Irene, his wife had had an affair and had produced a son from her lover and if he had seen the lover's son and had, in his desperate mind, thought that he was his own. This thought turned the sadness to anger, he grew angry at this thought. Angel had been seen with a gray-haired man on Earth about two thousand, one hundred years ago, she had ran with the gray-haired man for two years, had produced three children by him, all of which she had miscarried. After he had brought her back to Moas after his brother's attempt at forcing her to get to know her family had failed she had not ran away to Earth to join back up with that man or had even talked about that man again. He had given her free roam, she had gone around the towns, had driven his cars, had ridden his horses around the neighborhood and had always come back to him. He had no detected a single whiff of another males scent on her or a hair from another male or clothing or had seen letters coming in the mail from men he didn't know. She had remained faithful to him, the only letters she had gotten in the mail had been from his brother and sister-in-law, father and Cyla, grandfather and his great-uncle, from time to time on the latter. TazirVile Surfeit tried his best to put the thought of Angel Irene, his beloved wife, committing such horrors as having an adulterous affair but, somehow, the thought kept coming back to him. He fell asleep that night with it freshly popping up in his head and dreamed of his beloved wife sleeping with an unknown Zetakin male.


	4. Chapter 4

Ashaklar was getting worried about her son, for four days he had been waiting and for four days he had gotten no results back, no further leads, no further calls, no nothing at all about information on this Ayla Bakerly and the youth she had been seen with four days before. On the second day he had been a been aggravated, he had had a look of thought on his face that had looked rather serious, the third day he had dropped the aggravation and had replaced it with sadness and on the fourth he had grown very quiet. Family Week was just three days from completion, so far her oldest son from her first marriage had participated but he had been slipping these past two days, going back into his shell. That Mursod Strogonar he had hired, who claimed to be a top investigator from Zeta Fanblur, was doing nothing but sitting behind a desk. He wasn't asking questions, he wasn't sending out calls or even following up leads. There had been two other leads, Ayla Bakerly and the youth she had signed in as her son with the name of Reezal Bakerly had been sighted on Zeta Rygin and Zeta Ebli, again from security cameras placed in optomestrist buildings. Ashaklar wished that her son would fire the man and do the investigating himself, he had done so before and he could well of done so now and probably, he'd get better results. As it was, that Mursod Strogonar had closed the case and had left for Zeta Fanblur. The claim from a man named Jluk Disselpoof who was on Zeta Chible, ten planets away, had been validated and confirmed. Ayla Bakerly and the youth, Reezal Bakerly, had been in his building, he had given the youth a check over for an eye ailment and had sent them away because they couldn't afford his price for a single goggled glass. This was the same story from the people who had seen them on Zeta Rygin and Zeta Ebli as well, the two had come in for an appointment, the youth had had his eyes checked for SAE, or the Special Ailment of the Eyes as it was also called, and then the two had been sent away, the mother couldn't afford the goggled glass. The entire family was seated in front of the tv in the living room, Amadh was watching his Files of 8 program while everyone else was just sitting in a depressed state.

When word had reached the Surfeit clan that her son had saw a fiery red-haired woman with emerald-green eyes they had called, they had done their oh what you saw was wishful thinking, you conjured up Angel after the program was run and applied it to a woman that wasn't her. You've been chasing nothing but a ghost and have been putting thousands of dollars of Zeta Ren city money down the toilet with this new search. Her son had been bold on the first two days, telling them off, then their constant calling, constant insulting and putting him down, had taken effect on the third day. Ashaklar could kick a certain KurukVile and DuruVile Surfeit in the ass for their constant calling, she had overheard Kuruk saying that by her son still continuing his searching he was hurting them, was putting them in more pain over the fact that Angel and her four son's were gone. KurukVile had said quite loudly that Angel is not coming back, Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer are never coming back or will ever be found. Quit looking, let us all have closure, let us heal up from the pain that this whole ordeal had caused for us.

Ashaklar got up from the couch and left the room, she went into her kitchen then went straight to the cabinet that had a granite marble quartz surface and pulled the drawer out. Cheshire had let her model the kitchen and half of the rooms in the house and she had accepted his allowance with love and appreciation. Duru had not let her do that, it had been him and always him that had thought up the designs, called in the contractors, stood by the construction and did the directing, he had not let her so much as step into a room that he was remodeling much less give her opinion on the construction that was going on. Cheshire had let her take charge, he had stepped back and had allowed her to wear the pants for the first six months of the house being built then, after the kitchen and seventy-five of the hundred and fifty rooms in the house had been modeled by her she had taken a step back and had let Cheshire take over. There was a long, mahogany table that could well of sat thirty persons placed in the center of the room, it sat on four, Chippendale accent legs. Thirty chairs, all mahogany brown and all having a single cushion, on the seat, that were a cream color that had either a CU or a AU sewn on the top in real gold thread, were pulled up neatly to the table. Oak cabinets ran halfway around the kitchen, they had a granite marble quartz surface on them and above were shelfs that had pots and pans hanging down from hooks while the shelf itself had the plates, bowls and dishes that would have cakes or other dessert items placed on them. The drawer she reached into was one that she kept her little notes in, her cooking books, her cooking instructions and two photographs. She had asked her son for a copy of the two photographs of the woman and youth he had seen four days before and, instead of handing her copies of the two photographs he had handed her the actual photographs. She turned around and leaned against the cabinet, her feet were on a multi-blue grain texture vinyl floor, looking down at her was a light blue painted ceiling that globes of yellow lights hung down from and looking around her were light blue painted walls that had a leafy texture to them that were a lighter blue. A silver refrigerator, double doored and with an ice machine built in, sat off near the microwave while beside the microwave was the coffee pot, they always had to buy a new one every five years and the one on the counter was on its last leg. There was also a blender near her, a dish drain next to the sink and a dishwasher beside the sink which barely got used, Ashaklar liked to wash the dishes by hand as she thought they got cleaner better that way.

"There is no way that is not Angel," Ashaklar said aloud. "the fiery red hair is spot on, the emerald-green eyes are spot on, the woman had a golden-yellow ring around her black pupils and she has honey-tanned skin. She has Angel's face type as well, circular with a small, rounded chin."

Ashaklar had a few photographs of Angel, she had done what her son had done with all of the photographs of Angel and her son's. She went upstairs, which was white and spiraled up slightly, she trailed her hand along the gold banister for only a few seconds before taking it off. She was thinking about the foyer below, although her husband had designed the shape of the foyer she had been allowed to decorate. She had put quite a lot of plants, the kind that both sat on the floor in light blue vases and the kind that hung down from hooks from the ceiling, and she had put bird portraits in the foyer as well. After that she had put up the portraits of her and Cheshire, of her and the kids, of the kids and then of all of them together. She had done her best to not have the foyer become overgrown with plants and her favorite animal but, in the end, it had happened. Her husband hadn't said an off thing about it, he actually liked it. Although the kitchen had a multi-blue grain texture vinyl floor the rest of the vinyl flooring in her home was pearl white with plum-colored wispy designs. There were pearl white domed lights running along the hallway that came off of the foyer, her husband had gotten them put it, they cast down a bright white light in all of the hallways of her house. When she got to the second level she saw the light purple rug, it ran on top of the pearl white vinyl and it had tassels all along the edges, this was her husbands idea. The bedrooms and living room were carpeted while the rest of the house had vinyl flooring with rugs placed on top.

She had a thing for vases, they went with everything, were a great addition to brighten up a home and were simple. There were fancy plated silver vases with dramatic ruffles and decorations of flowers on the sides running every ten feet of the hallway she was on. Some of them had red roses in them while others had white. Like the foyer, there were photographs of her husband with her, her children, her husband with members of both his family and hers and her husband with TazirVile and QeetaVile on the walls, she was a family woman and wanted anyone who walked throughout her house that the people on the walls were people of whom she loved dearly. Ashaklar walked over to a door that had the letters CU and AU on it that was guarded by two glass vases that were lit up blue that held blue Calla Lily flowers in them, this was her and her husband's bedroom chamber and, although her husband had taken over modeling the house after she had modeled the kitchen and seventy-five of the hundred and fifty rooms, he had called her up to join up with him to model their bedroom chamber where six children, their six, beautiful children, would be conceived. Ashaklar opened the door and went in, she didn't bother closing the door behind her.

She went to the first dresser, there were three in the room, all cherry wood with gold handles, and took out the photograph album. There were three dressers in her and her husband's bedroom chamber for a reason. She had a lot of clothes and she didn't want to have her husband's clothing kicked out of the drawers so she had gotten two more dressers put in the room. The first dresser had a vase on it that doubled up as a clock, it was light blue with gold designs, a lion sat on top as if guarding the vase from trouble-making fingers. Another vase sat next to the clock vase, this one was black, blue and white colored and in the shape of a conch shell, very unique and it happened to be her very favorite vase. A silver, glass-like vase sat next to that one, it had three-horse shoe-like parts that were connected at the top, artificial white flowers stuck out from the ends. There was a photograph of her husband with their two elder son's, Efagti and Amadh, standing over a kill between the horse shoe-like vase and the conch shell vase. The second dresser was the one where they stored their undies in, her husband had his two drawers and she had her two drawers, she never touched her husband's panties or boxies, as she called them, except to clean and fold. There was nothing on the surface of the second dresser, the dresser beside it, though, had a good-sized tv on it.

The third dresser had her normal day dresses in, her special gowns were hung up in the closet as were the coats and her husband's tuxedos. The dresser also had a few pairs of her husband's old, worn out, work day clothes in it as well, one pair he had put away and had never used again after Angel's disappearance. Angel had entered their house one day two thousand, one hundred years ago and had slipped three pairs of clothes, three shirts and three pairs of pants, from the dresser for her and two female companions. She had returned them a few months later cleaned, pressed and folded up nicely, the brown pants and a multi-brown checkered shirt her husband had put in a white envelope and had put them away. This dresser was very long and it went around the corner, the tv on the surface was one of them 50" ones that got good reception and a great picture and had great sound to it.

"Why have a pool in the room, Cheshie?" she had asked her husband when they had started modeling their bedroom.

"A dream of mine, you ever wonder what it's like to get up in the morning and take a dip? Take a quick swim in a pool that is in your very own room?"

Ashaklar went over to the bed that she shared with her husband, it was one of them unique ones. A simple mattress sat on a gold, S-shaped frame that had a canopy of light yellow hanging from the ends of both of the S's. Her bed had white gold sheets and a dark gold blanket, the gold was imitation, it wasn't real and she was glad for that as gold was heavy and she couldn't imagine sleeping with a blanket made of real gold pressing down on her. There were four pillows on the bed. Two normal ones and two throws, all were housed in light yellow pillow cases and not a one had an initial sewn on the top. A chocolate-brown bench with accent sides and accent legs that had a light brown cushion sat in front of the bed, a love seat that matched the bench sat off on the left side wall next to a pair of glass doors that opened out to a balcony. What brought back the memory of her and Cheshire discussing the pool in the room was the fact that, after that talk, a pool had been built inside of their bedroom chamber. It was large, it had light blue tile lining it on the inside and it was filled with light treated, light blue water. Not only did she and her husband enjoy a quick dip in the morning to quicken up the waking process, but also that pool had made for some lovely romantic moments, two of which had created Efagti and Amadh.

Ashaklar sat on her bed and opened her photograph album, she went past all the usual photographs of her son's, daughter's, husband and of herself and her family, she went straight to the photographs of Angel that she had. She went past the first two then stopped and looked at the third before going on, she found what she was looking for in the fifth photograph. It was a photograph taken on Zeta Ren, Angel and Tazir, with Bile and Lhaklar, had been visiting for Family Week and Angel was heading onto her fifth month of being pregnant with Hazaar. She looked lovely, Tazir had braided some of her hair and he had playfully put some make-up on her the morning before which had gotten them both laughing, he hadn't been very good at the lipstick or the eyeshadow and had made his wife look somewhat like a clown. The photograph showed that connection, that love held between the two. There was the fiery red hair that cast a glow off of the brown and yellow grass around her, her emerald-green eyes were lit up nicely and had pin-points of light in them and the golden-yellow ring around her black pupils were clearly showing. In the photograph in her album there was something else included, the ring that her son had given his wife as a wedding ring.

"It's not her," Ashaklar jumped, she let the photograph album fall to the floor along with the photograph of the woman that she took as her son's wife. Standing just inside her and her husband's room was her son, Tazir. "I've looked, I've checked, it's not her."

"Tazzy, don't be silly!" Ashaklar gasped in shock. "There cannot... can not! be another woman that looks so similar to her."

"She looks similar but she's not her." TazirVile insisted. "I just saw someone that looked like her."

"This girl," Ashaklar grabbed the still from the security film and held it out. "looks fully like her. Look at the hair, Tazzy. Look at the eyes. Look at the r..."

She was about to say ring around the pupils when her eyes landed on the woman in the still's finger. Her son had turned away, he had a sad look on his face, a defeated look, while she had a curious look on hers. Ashaklar got up and went to the dresser that had her and her husband's underwear in, it was a strange place to put a magnifying glass but her husband kept one in the top drawer. She pulled the magnifying glass out, placed the still on the dressers top then looked through the glass. Ashaklar's mouth dropped instantly when she saw the details of the ring, her son had taken his wife to a town on Gamma-Vile almost three weeks after she had been been caught and taken to his older half-brother's place. He had taken her to the town three times and on that first trip he had bought her a lovely ring. Angel Irene's father had been very jealous of the purchase and of his daughter, who was also his Family Mate, wearing such a thing. He had tried to slip the ring off of her finger twice, had even tried to slice it off, but Angel had been faster than he and had gotten away. The girl in the still had a ring on her ring finger, a ring that had an oval aquamarine gem set beautifully between three rows of diamonds, the top row, of which, had vanilla diamonds while the two other rows had chocolate diamonds on them. Ashaklar knew fashion, rings were sometimes kept in production for years but the specific ring that her son had given his wife as their wedding ring was one of a kind. It had been made, had been given a hefty price of a thousand and twenty-four dollars and after it had been sold no other like it had been made. Not even a replica.

"You remember the ring that you bought for her?" she asked her son. "The wedding ring?"

"Yes, a one of a kind. Very expensssss...expensive." her son had nearly begun sobbing but he kept it in.

"Did you notice that, in this still, the woman has a ring on her ring that looks identical to the one you bought Angel?"

Although it was her discovery of the ring on the woman's finger that had spurred her son back into his happy, excited former mood it was the call that put him in such a rash that she had a hard time keeping him in his shoes. Apparently, one of the investigators had left her son's actual number on a desk in the room in the investigation room and, when someone had called in with information on the missing one that her son was looking for he had been given that number and had dialed the number for her son's house. Two new leads had been discovered, one was very recent, as in only six hours old. A woman had surveillance footage of the two talking just outside of the back of her restaurant from four days ago, right after the two had gone to the optometrist, the woman claimed that her surveillance footage had captured not only the conversation between the two but also of the two teleporting. The second lead had come from a different location on Zeta Ren about six hours before and the woman who was thought to be her son's wife wasn't with just one youth, she had two with her and one was said to look older than the other by about four to five hundred years. Soon after her son had been relayed all of this he ran out of her house and jumped into the Cadshire, which her husband had already gone and gotten after finding out that the new leads had been placed. Cheshire had decided to go along with, to lend some emotional assistance and also be a second pair of eyes, just in case her son missed something. As her son, Amadh, would say five minutes after Tazir and her husband left, when the orange clouds drifted away from the afternoon's red sun it was like a sure-fire sign that something was on its way and that that something was going to be explosive and very surprising.

"I wish they'd stop airing these reports, they're not needed anymore." the skeletal woman sitting on the dark brown velor couch that had brown and cream furs draped over the backs and cushions said. She had a roll of thread on her lap, dark red, and was knitting a sweater for one of her son's, the tv was on but she really wasn't paying any attention to it, there was a story being shown on the 100" television set that was across the fireplace. It was another of them news bulletins, they were really driving it in about the discovery on Zeta Ren and she was sick of hearing it.

"They'll keep it up as long as my brother keeps up his damn searching." her husband, who had caught her words in the room across from the one she was in, said. "I don't know what his problem is, doesn't want to cope with the facts, doesn't want to accept that what was taken from him won't ever come back... I wish he'd stop, not what we all need."

"What we need is healing, his continued searching is preventing that." the skeletal woman said. "That and more, that and more."

The skeletal woman had gone through a lot the past one thousand, six hundred years, although it hadn't changed her appearance any it had made her grow cold and still and not complete inside. She quickly grabbed the remote to the tv and muted it, she didn't want to hear what the bulletin said, it was just all wishful searching that was to come to a disappointing end anyways. They had searched the universe, had thrown around the fliers, had done the interviews, had sent out bulletins and had waited... and waited... and waited with nothing coming home to comfort them and their hopes, dreams and desires. The skeletal woman on the couch wasn't young, in the human way of thinking that was, she was forever young, vibrant and beautiful but she was far older than any known being that humanity had and knowledge of. She knew that if it was known to them little-minded humans that she was heading towards her one hundred and sixty-one thousand, two hundred and twenty-third birthday in a few short days she'd be captured, interrogated on the fabric of life then she'd be placed on a table to be butchered, have all of her parts taken out, looked at, examined, tested, photographed then tossed out in the days trash like she was nothing but the butchered remains of an animal that the humans grew to butcher and eat. She was still very feminine and still looked fragile in appearance, although things were much more different with the word fragile, and she was still a short five foot five inches tall.

Still was the hair on her head long and a crystallized light blue in color, still it reached down almost to her waist and still it was youthful and smooth. Still was her body, her bone body that was darkly colored, either being a dark purple color or black and still was she one to demand obedience in her home. She sat on the couch wearing a purple dress that was tight around the breasts that poked out like pyramids, there was a white belt around her waist of which had studded spikes running around the center and there were black heeled boots on her feet that had spikes on the sides. She had looked up the word that humanity used which was similar to her own once and had gotten right offended by it. Irk, to irritate or annoy. Well, little humans, I am not, she had yelled out. I am Irka freakin' Surfeit, wife of KurukVile freakin' Surfeit, born Irka freakin' Shaiden. I am of the Sketon people, a being that is skeletal in appearance and is typically short but had a very fierce drive and will. Irka Shaiden, that is I, mother of six fine children, four boys and two girls, three of which were full-grown adults and three that were still not old enough to drive a car much less live on their own. I'm a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and I am damn proud!

"Whose the sweater for?" her husband asked as he walked into the room.

"Sudir, poor dear thing keeps saying he gets cold when he goes outside." she replied.

"That time of year, shouldn't last but a month or two more though before that good, ol' warm weather swoops in." her husband said.

Irka Surfeit, born Irka Shaiden, looked up from her knitting to take in her husband. They had been married for so long, their oldest had been barely ten years old, still an infant by their standards, when they had married and now, one hundred and two thousand, seven hundred and one years later she couldn't see herself without her doting husband. Their love was so thick and strong, she felt it now as he walked in. Despite his mountains of muscle, muscle of which he had accumulated by working out and from having a good dose of them good ol' genes that his daddy had passed onto him, he was a real gentle man with her and the children. He had been rough with the oldest of their four boys a few times in the past but he hadn't gone but so far, just enough to put them in their place. Her husband sat beside her, his great bulk slid up beside her and she couldn't help herself but reach over and run her hand over his big, bulging in thick and great muscle, arm. Here he was, the man himself, KurukVile Surfeit, the man she had married, the man she would love forever and would never give up.

Her husband was damn handsome, why, the right side of his head was white while the left side was red. He had a few wrinkles on his head, stress wrinkles which made him look so much more handsome and dreamy. The wrinkles on the right side of his head were a deeper red while the ones on the left side of his head were a darker white than their base colors. His ears, elongated they were, only went half of the length of his shoulders and were a gold color, they had red, Tiger-like, stripes on them. When her husband took her hand in his she saw that he had long, and finely sharpened, purple fingernails. The arm she had caressed was red, the veins that bulged out from the muscle were a deeper red, the arm across from her was white, the veins that bulged from the muscles on that arm were a darker shade of white. Her husband wasn't just colored in halves on his head, his whole right side was red while his whole left side was white. Her beloved husband beside her was wearing an outfit that made him look so sexy, at least to her that was. He was wearing a black tunic that had a black belt around the waist and black fur on the shoulders and a pair of black pants, there were black boots on his feet.

"Just let it run through your ears, my love." he said as he took the remote from her and pressed the button to unmute the tv. "They'll stop in a few days, they've been slowing up the past few days."

"Why does he continue this? Why does he continue to go on with his hurting of us?" Irka asked her husband. "He knows that all of this hurts us, it brings up bad memories. It brings up graves that have been long-buried in the deep recesses of our minds. We don't need this, Baruk, Kaasa and Sudir don't need this. Thrax doesn't need this, neither does the other youngsters in this family."

There had been thirteen additions, both before and after their granddaughter decided to leave again and force them to drop their lives to pursue her. Thirteen, three were her own while three others were her husband's younger siblings. They had celebrated the birth of their oldest son's self-proclaimed first grandchild nine hundred and one years earlier, that had helped quite a lot in getting them to think on what they were doing. Here were thirteen new little ones in the family, all they had known was their parents running around, chasing after someone they had no clue about, someone that they didn't know. What were they doing to the kids, the new ones in the family, with all of this searching? They were depriving their new charges, their new little darlings, of their parents, of the things that they needed like love, comfort, a family... they were depriving their new charges of their lives. After she had realized this she had taken her husband to the side and had voiced it, they had been the last two of the Surfeit's to be still searching, still grieving inside. Her father-in-law had pitched in greatly, had searched so hard which had nearly cost him his marriage before he had stopped, her grandfather-in-law had searched for a hundred years more after his son had stopped his involvement then had stopped, seeing it as hopeless to keep it up. Her oldest son's had stopped searching, her grandfather-in-law's uncle and his family had stopped searching... everyone had stopped searching but her brother-in-law and his mother and that man that he called a stepfather.

One thousand, six hundred years, they had searched for seven hundred then had stopped and gone back to their lives, had gone back to their children, while Tazir had gone on searching. All it had done was dig a shovel deeper into their hearts, not just hers and her husband's but all of theirs. His constant searching was hurtful, it brought back pains so deep that she wanted to cry all over again. Her husband had been closer than she had been to Angel, he had written three and sometimes four letters a week to her, she had written two and they had been responded to. When Angel had gone off she had taken a part of him with her that was still missing. She felt it now even, he was here, he was with her, but he wasn't fully there. He was missing a piece, they all were, and by Tazir's constant searching the missing piece would never heal. Irka felt for her husband, she felt for all of them. Although she felt anger towards her brother-in-law she did know that he, too, was hurting inside. What was one to do after a loved one disappeared? Just sit on the porch and sip lemonade? Drive them long, country drives while whistling loudly? No, find that person and they had pitched in, had done their part and nothing had come up. Her grandfather-in-law had shown all of them the tombstones in the cemetery behind his son's house, he had added five to the cemetery, all with the names and dates and the reason why they were there.

_Angel Irene - Beloved daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter, great-great granddaughter, mother, wife and much more, born May 15, 1758 - deceased, disappeared_

_Bile Vile - Beloved son, grandson, great-grandson, nephew and much more, born March 6, 1,999,093,408 - deceased, disappeared_

_LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit - Beloved son, grandson, great-grandson, nephew and much more, born March 8, 1,999,093,508 - deceased, disappeared_

_HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit - Beloved son, grandson, great-grandson, nephew and much more, born April 23, 2,599,093,908 - deceased, disappeared_

_LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit - Beloved son, grandson, great-grandson, nephew and much more, born February 13, 2,599,094,008 - deceased, disappeare_d

That had been so hard to see yet, for all of them, they had felt a peace over seeing them stones, all of them being a shiny black and having white letters on them. That had been their closure, the final telling for them that it was over. The searching was over with, the constant going from one planet to the other, the fliers being handed out, the broadcasts and bulletins in all them other languages, the interviews... she and her husband, and father-in-law, had all hoped that the program aired five days ago would have made Tazir come around, see the error in his ways and stop the searching and heal up but, from the looks on the tv, he was still searching. It pissed her off something bad, the man had problems, deep emotional and mental scarring. She knew he loved Angel and her four son's, they all did, she knew he had adopted one of her son's, Angel's first child fathered by her own father, by her oldest son, but they didn't mean to keep on with the ghost chasing. Irka had just placed her head on her husband's muscled shoulder when a news bulletin, a new one, was aired. She groaned as it was ran and wished that her husband would mute the tv.

"Just this Monday it was discovered that one of the millions of missing had possibly been discovered not only alive, but well and had been captured on security video. Although the search for this missing person slowed up the past few days it has picked up again after the discovery of two new leads. One which involved new security footage of not one, not two but three of the five reported missing members of TazirVile Surfeit's family." the reporter, a man who had tentacles instead of hair and beady, yellow eyes who was wearing a light blue tuxedo. "Oligag Agroma has all the details in this exciting find, Oligag."

"Thank you Horgav," Oligag Agroma, a female reporter that had long flowing, black hair, black eyes and a pencil-thin mouth wearing a black dress said when the camera panned over to her. "not only have sources told me that the woman who was seen and recorded on security cameras in Goggles for All, owned by Navub Babusa and the security cameras behind Fine Foods and Desserts, owned by Aigie Duloap has, indeed, been confirmed as Angel Irene through the capturing of a one of a kind ring, purchased two thousand, one hundred years ago by TazirVile Surfeit for Angel Irene as a symbol of their love and universal marriage."

"Just an hour and a half ago, news was reached that also surveillance footage from not one, not two but four businesses of Angel Irene walking by with not one youth in tote, but two. We will show you footage, graciously allowed to be shown in hopes that other leads will come to surface from TazirVile Surfeit, of Angel Irene and an unknown youth behind the restaurant, Fine Foods and Desserts."

She just watched the footage to get it over with, just to have it in the past, since her husband was going to force her to listen she might as well watch as well. Unlike human surveillance, which was grainy, fuzzy and slow, this footage was crisp, clear and it had full range sound. She could hear everything going on in the background, although it was coming in slightly as the camera was faced away from the noise. There were four dumpsters, the back doors of businesses and someone had just gone into one of the back doors after dumping some trash. Irka was about to sigh and ask her husband to turn the tv off when, suddenly, a woman walked up. She had walked from under the camera so, either she had jumped the fence behind the camera or there had been an opening near to or just underneath where the camera was mounted. Either way, she walked out from under the camera, turned and Irka and her husband both gasped. Fiery red hair, so bright that it cast a glow off of the items around her, emerald-green eyes that looked as if there was a ring of yellow around black pupils and she looked pretty tall. The woman gestured at someone behind the camera then spoke.

"Come on," the woman said.

"What's the rush? Bring me to this planet then want to whisk me away." an unseen person, who sounded male and young, replied.

"I know you're upset but we had to do it, now come on." the woman looked over her shoulder once then beckoned for the person behind the camera to come forward again.

Irka was really wondering who the woman, who did look quite a lot like her granddaughter, was talking to. The woman demanded for the one behind the camera to hurry it up then she gave a glare and that was when the person walked forward. Irka was stumped as to who the young fellow was, he looked no older than her husband's youngest brother, Selik. He was tall, about six-foot exactly and looked to still be growing. He had a lean, strong body that belied his age and looked to resemble a Zetakin. He had periwinkle-blue colored skin, a circular head that sat on, what looked to be, a four and a half-inch neck and he had a thin row of red hair, about two inches in width she had to guess, going around the back of the head. When the youth turned around she saw that his hair stopped at the sides of his head. He had no viewable ears, his mouth was O-shaped and he had holes where a nose would normally be. She saw that his eyes were circular in shape and that they were silvery. The youth was wearing a pair of gray pants that were ripped at the knees and a netted shirt, on his feet were gray and brown shoes. Irka looked at the woman who looked so much like her granddaughter, she looked at the woman's fiery red hair, then she looked at the youth's hair. No doubt in her mind, the youth had to be related, he just had to be.

"Big waste of time, why do you keep wasting time I could be using up in hiding under a tree, ma?" the youth asked, he was obviously not in a good mood.

"We had to try, honey." the woman replied. "At least now I know how much I need to save up."

"And how long is it going to take this time? A year? Two? I'm not getting any younger here!"

"Young Man, you'll be young for..."

"Yeah yeah, I'll be young forever. You keep feeding me that shit yet here I am, hiding, ducking or covering myself up just so my poor, sensitive eye won't pain me." the youth cut the woman off.

"Just give me a little time, that is all. I'll get your glass." the woman said.

"I don't know, might have to charge you now for all this travel to different places." the youth said. "A ladies bathroom visit, perhaps."

"You're a boy, you head to the men's room and stay away from the ladies room." the woman said sternly, but she was smiling nonetheless. KurukVile, beside Irka, chuckled lightly at the youth's words.

"Alright then, how about a simple walk around one of these planets you've brought me to?" the youth asked. "Say, this one here. Come on, ma." the youth elbowed the fiery red-haired woman then feigned an extreme form of sadness. "Pleeeeeese, I'll be good. I promise."

"Weeeelllll... you have been good this past week, been keeping your jokes on a down-scale so... I guess I can squeeze it in. We'll be back soon."

The two teleported away, the woman had a smoke effect to her teleporting while the youth had a blue swirl effect to his. After the footage was shown the reporter came back on. Oligag Agroma told, again, how the night before Family Week the same woman was thought to of sent a call into the owner of Goggles for All, an optometrist building on Zeta Ren and that the same woman, and the youth, had gone into the building the day after. Irka leaned back, she had just begun to process what she had just seen when the reporter said that she was now going to show the new footage of not only the woman with the youth in tote but also with another youth following that she said investigators, TazirVile Surfeit and a man named Cheshire Ubalki, who was the stepfather of TazirVile Surfeit all believed to be LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit. Irka leaned forward, the same as her husband when the video was played, both tuned in to what they were seeing once it was shown.

At first, it was just the odd passer or two then nothing but a road, they heard a horn being honked then a cat meow. A dog had just barked and howled when, suddenly, the fiery red-haired woman walked into view. She glanced behind her once then went on, looking slightly nervous, then the youth from the previous footage walked into view. There were clouds drifting around in the sky, the red sun on Zeta Ren was being hidden behind the clouds, there were no shadows being cast, Irka and KurukVile heard a few birds calling then they both gasped out loud. A male youth, looking around the age of two thousand years, walked into view. There was no, absolutely no, doubt as to who he was. Irka, the same as her husband, had seen Lhaklar up to his five hundredth birthday, they knew him a little more than Hazaar and a whole lot more that Lazeer. The youth walked up to the fiery red-haired woman, they walked side by side for a few seconds then he dropped back beside the other youth.

This new youth had mint-green colored skin, when he turned at the camera both Irka and her husband saw that he had large, oval eyes that were Pistachio colored but had a silver shine to them set in an upside down head and that he also had two holes where a nose would be. The youth had an athletic-looking body, he looked fast but he had a calmness in his walk, a sort of knowing that said that, although I'm fast I'll be slow until the quickness it needed. When he pushed the younger youth Irka saw that he had suction-cups on the tips of each finger. The youth was wearing a brown and green checkered, long-sleeved, button-down shirt, brown pants and brown shoes. Just from guessing, she thought the older youth was about six foot, one inch tall, maybe an inch taller but she wasn't fully sure. The younger youth turned around after being pushed and pushed the older youth back, there was a pushing match, a sort of boyish game of lets see who can push the other the hardest and strongest, before the woman in front called for them to quit goofing around, catch up and keep up. The two stopped their pushing and ran up to the woman, the younger youth had a quickness to his run but the older youth passed him by quickly.

"And that is, what TazirVile Surfeit and Cheshire Ubalki firmly believe, is Angel Irene with two of her four son's. There is still no word on who the younger youth is, he was thought to be HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit up to recently but after viewing photos that was swiftly changed. The older youth is firmly believed to be the oldest son by TazirVile Surfeit through Angel Irene, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit." Oligag Agroma said. "No new developments have come up yet but Mr. Surfeit has expressed that he is now taking full hold on the investigation."

"Contact Tazzy and do your best to see what you could do to help out." Irka said to her husband after the reporter had signed off.

"Already a step ahead of you," her husband said, he reached over and grabbed the full silver phone that was in the shape of a spider with his big hand and began dialing his brother's cellular number.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been one of them days, Family Week was just two days from ending, all of his children except for two had come to his house for the holiday, his father had come for a few days then had left and he felt a sadness for that. He put full blame on his secondborn son for his father leaving his place. Had it not of been his son putting forth a fresh, new search, a search that was garnering tons of media attention, his father would have stayed for longer. He, his father and his oldest son had all thought that the program that they had given the go-ahead to do and had all participated in would have gotten Tazir to stop his searching but, from what the media was showing, it had actually spurred his son to do a fresh search. The local news station had been asking them all if they could do a program on their missing persons for years and each time they had said no, they had figured that they'd try to knock two stones loose at the same time, let the news station do their program, their story on Angel and her son's and have the whole affair closed. Well, it had gotten one thing off of their backs but the other was still there. He sighed, of his sixteen children, fifteen living, it was without a doubt in his mind his secondborn son, his eighth child, that he had the most trouble with.

Tazir had begun getting disobedient soon after he had returned from Brol, soon after getting the decision to his court cases that said that he not only had sure rights to Angel, but also that he was the one that gave say as to if his oldest grandson could touch her or not and that also his oldest grandson had to be supervised at all times with the kids that had been no more than one hundred years and nine months old at the time. Tazir had mouthed off to him plenty, had stood up against him, told him off, had fought him, had not talked to him and then, after the woman who his father had been fooling around with and who had a good mind to keep had been taken away he had taken Angel, his damn Goblins and Angel's two infant son's to his place against his orders. He figured that it had a lot to do with Angel herself. The girl was disobedient as well, she had an air to herself that said she wasn't only overconfident but also powerful. The two had made a good pair, he had seen two of their three son's being born and he had been thrilled to know that his secondborn, despite his weak, spineless and snobby appearance and demeanor, had had enough to produce not one but three son's.

He had been thrilled when Angel had named her second son after he had said _Hoozah, thank the Gods! I have a new grandson_!, he had taken that as an act of hers as respect towards him. _Hoozah, _she had said afterwards, _hmmm, take out the o's and the h then add in two a's and an r to the remains and we get Hazaar... _Good, catchy and was a name of power, he had liked it a lot! HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, get ready because here comes the Hazaar, here comes the king, hoozah, here comes Hazaar. It had a great ring to it and his son had agreed with him on that. It was after she had disappeared with her son's that his son had really gone down disobedience lane. He had started going on and on about how he had created three son's in a row while he, his father, had only created two in a row, one living and then a son after a daughter. _You're only jealous old man, _he had said, _I made three while you made two. My man's sack showed you and yours up. _He had punched his son in the face for saying that and he had reacted by punching him back and that had turned into a brawl of the father-son type. He had understood that a majority of his son's problem was was in Angel not being with him, he was hurting inside but surely he knew better than to turn his pain on him.

Why, he had four son's now, five overall but four alive and well, maybe he hadn't of created them all back-to-back but dammit all he had proven himself. He could produce son's still in his age, he could still father children at his age. He was a father, grandfather and great-grandfather to several son's and he had seen two daughter's and granddaughter's being born as well. He had wanted to grab Tazir by the tail of his burgundy tuxedo jacket then grab him by his jacket's collar and show him Vile. _Look at your nephew, _he would have said, _look at your nephew, my grandson, the father of your wife, do you see him still fighting the hurt? Do you see him still hurting inside? Get over it, find someone else, father other children from someone else, get on with your life!_ He had almost done that once but he had kept his balls tight between his legs and had walked away, now he was barely talking to Tazir and his son was barely talking to him, he was barely talking to anyone except that mother and that damn man that he called his stepfather.

"They're doing it again," his wife said as she walked into their bedroom chamber. "more re-runs, more repeats."

"Just ignore them." he replied comfortingly.

"How can I when they keep popping up on the tv? I've had to turn every tv off in the house today, Duru. Had to do it otherwise the kids would have seen all of it and would have done their asking." his wife flopped down on her side of the bed and sighed.

He looked at his wife, he had nearly lost her once, he had put so much effort, so much energy into finding Angel that he had nearly abandoned her and that had hurt her so bad and it had also hurt their two new littles ones. They have no idea who their daddy is, Duru!, she had screamed at him one day, they have no idea who you are, how good of a father you are, if you don't stop this madness and come home now I won't give you the promise that I and they will be here when you get back. He had sat down and had thought after that, two hundred years of searching with no results, no leads, no findings, no nothing. He had a seven hundred year old son at home and a six hundred and eighty-five year old at home, both in their toddler years. This was the time when memories started, he needed to be there. For his wife and for his kids so, with his heart heavy, his tail tucked firmly between his legs and his balls feeling about ready to fall off in his grief he had stopped his searching and had gone home. He had found his wife and two little ones waiting for him, his wife had been grieving as well but when she was right she was right. She's gone, you've searched for two hundred years, time to give it up and go on with your life. That would be what she would want you to do anyways.

Still, it was so hard. One thousand, six hundred years and he was reminded of her every day. How could he not? Here was his wife, lying in their bed, her red hair whipped back against the pillows, hair of which their son of whom Angel was descended from had inherited although in a much more extreme fashion. It was hard when he went to the bathroom as well, he'd take one look in the mirror and see his glowing green eyes with the yellow pupils and he'd automatically think, these eyes were passed onto her, she got a shade of these eyes and she passed that onto one of her kids. He had contemplated taking the mirrors down in all of the bathrooms several times, he had even thought about breaking the mirror in the bathroom adjacent to his and his wife's bedroom chamber and he had nearly done so but, instead of mirror glass his hand had shot through he had punched a hole in the wall. He had closed and locked the bathroom door after that then had sat on the toilet and had bawled his eyes out.

_Men don't cry, boys cry, girls cry, women cry, you're two hundred and sixteen thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five years old. You're a fucking man, you don't cry, you keep it inside! It's been fifty years past your dropping out of the search, you should have gotten over it by now._ By the time his wife had come into their bedroom chamber that day he had gotten himself under control, the episode had helped matters some for him, he had felt as if he had gotten something off of his chest and off of his shoulders. Here he was now, two hundred and eighteen thousand, six hundred and twenty-five years old and he had cried dozens of times, always in secret and always with that damn bathroom door close and locked. He hadn't cried any recently, it had been a few hundred years since his last tear had fallen from his eyes, but he had come close to it though.

"Where are you going, Duru?" his wife asked him, he had turned and had begun to head out of their bedroom chamber, head downstairs for a little alone time.

"Downstairs, kids are in bed sleeping, you're up here." he replied.

"Keep the volume down on the tv," his wife said, she then rolled over, he saw her shoulders rising and falling and knew that she was crying. DuruVile Surfeit decided to leave her be, like he she needed some alone time as well. It had been a hard week for not just him but her as well.

Women knew things, they had an inner knowing as to what a man is about to do and his wife had hit it right dead in the center. She had kicked the field goal, kicked the soccer ball into the net, had thrown a bull's eye. He was headed downstairs to the living room to see what was going on with the media now, what stories were being run and what was being said now on this new search. As he went down the stairs that spiraled down and had living ferns growing on it, a spell he had conjured up that made the stairs look very homey, or at least to him that was, he was thinking about Angel. Despite his son's attitude towards him, despite Tazir's change of demeanor, Angel and he had been close. She had helped him several times in heading back to Earth to collect lizards and monkeys, the Mini-Pygmy's, or Finger Monkeys as he called them, were his favorite as was the black Centralian blue-tongue skink. He had bred that lizard, a male, with the female and had gotten many offspring, some that had a very intricate pattern on them, some that were dull, some that were nearly albino and some who were black. He had kept the intricate patterned ones and the black ones and had sold the others, by his breeding he had introduced a new species to Gamma-Vile's reptile pet trade which he had dubbed the Black Skink, he had bred the Finger Monkeys as well and had sold a few of them off, they were easy to breed and easy to bring up, the species acted not even wild but very tame. One day he had walked into his cage to find all thirty of the females he had had at the time had given birth, that had made for nearly eighty animals in the cage, he had needed to do something as the cage was getting very cramped. He had sold carefully, zoos had been interested as had private owners. He had sold all but ten babies, his price was $500 an animal on the Finger Monkeys and $400 on the Black Skinks. Angel had answered his letters, he had sent off one a week telling her how things were going, how his kids were doing, how he was and how his wife was and, of course, how the animals were doing and she had responded by giving him advice on the lizards, on the monkeys, saying that she was happy to hear from him and that he really should write more. He would have, hadn't he of been so busy. Raising kids, being in the lizard and monkey hobby and having planets and galaxies to rule over and a wife to take care of, all of that took up quite a lot of his time. They had spoken on the phone three times a month, again she had said he should come out of his "shell" and talk to her more which he had appreciated, they hadn't started their relationship as great-grandfather and great-granddaughter on the right foot but she seemed to of gone past that and was looking to forgive and forget all the bad he had done to her.

When he walked into his living room he stopped, taking it in. There were two couches in here, all four were dark green and had black vine designs on them and all had matching pillows near the arms. There were two dark green chairs in the room as well as the rocking chair and black glassed table in the room as well. His wife liked to rock in the rocking chair as she sew and knit, there was a sewing kit and knitting basket near the chair just for her. The fireplace, huge and stone, had been there before his time, it had actually been built by his father's father. There were skulls and bones hanging down from the fireplace mantle and in front of the frame and there were animal skulls decorating the mantle shelf. Above, in the ceiling, were rows of red lights, he had taken down a majority of the torches in the house as they were a nuisance to light and then you had to remember to douse the flame before you went to bed or else, the house and everything and possibly everyone in it could be burned down. There was a tan carpet in the room and the walls were blue, the ceiling was the same as it had been before his father had given it over to him, gray. There was a black glass-topped coffee table sitting between the couches, a black and gold French telephone sat on it as well as a few books, an address book and the remote to the 100" tv that sat off to the side of the room that had surround sound connected to it. The tv was placed on a thick and well strong brown entertainment center, on one of the shelfs underneath the tv were two boxes. The first, a bulky, black box, was for playing VHS tapes while the smaller, slimmer, black box was for playing DVDs.

He was a man who loved his music and thus, had bought himself a very powerful stereo system that had a volume dial that went past twenty which meant that the stereo he had bought could get pretty loud. There were his rows of records and music discs underneath the stereo, a glass window was in front of them to keep them safe. He had gotten somewhat better with the tapes and had a bit bigger pile that he use to have, they were placed on top of the records, lined up in alphabetical order. DuruVile went to the couch, sat down then grabbed the remote. His hand was cold as he clicked the power button. He waited, the tv did its usual. The zap that said it had been turned on, the static sound that said it was working then the darkness before the screen began to show what was happening on the news. His wife had muted the tv at one time that day and it was still on mute so he quickly unmuted it. He was met with the news on sports first, then the local news ran its course. Same old stuff, he leaned back on the couch and had just gotten comfortable when Oligag Agroma came on. She said a few things, the usual. His son had found two new developments, two new surveillance footages of the red-haired woman and the youth that he was so hyped up on, during the day and, as far as he knew, he had found nothing new. He hadn't seen the report, he hadn't seen the two footages and he really didn't want to.

"TazirVile Surfeit seems to be on a roll today when it comes to discoveries," Oligag Agroma said. "just two hours before he was notified that the red-haired woman that he has seen on Zeta Ren and who he has fully confirmed as his wife was seen in a park with the two youth's that she was seen earlier with. A civilian on Zeta Ren captured footage of her and the two youth's in question. All opinions on this footage say it is genuine."

There was a problem with the network, they had to work out a bug or two which gave him time to think of Angel's son's. He hadn't been able to get to know Lazeer very well, he had been born so fast and had been so sickly, he had decided to let the parents have as much time with him as they could, as had all of them. Hazaar, he had seen him being born and had said a few things on, specifically that tail of dark purple hair that he had been born with that was sprouting out from the nape of the back of his head. Yes, he had said for his son to cut it off, yes he had said that it made his son look silly and yes, he had meant what he had said. Women, in his opinion, had the long hair, men were to keep their hair cut short and kept nice and trim. Hazaar's tail of hair had grown long by his hundredth year of life, nearly going to his shoulders. He had asked his son if he wanted Hazaar to really be a girl as the tail of hair had made him look that way and his son had said no and that the tail of dark purple hair was going to stay. Lhaklar had been a strong kid, he had been shorter and thinner than Bile but he could climb like crazy. He remembered seeing his son chasing after Lhaklar one day after his son had said a right bad word, Lhaklar had jumped and then climbed up a tree to escape him. By the time Tazir had gotten to the tree and had begun to climb up it, Lhaklar had reached the top. Bile, now he was one to be proud of. Tall, not thin by any means but a rather good-sized kid and, although he was slow he could throw some punches. His father, his real father, not his adopted or stepfather, when he had grabbed him, fully intending to give him a little discipline for his calling him a scumbag had gotten a nasty surprise when Bile had balled his fist up and had slugged it into his stomach. DuruVile was starting to wonder how Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar, and Lazeer, would have turned out had they of gotten the chance to grow up when the footage was shown.

The person holding the camera was either very steady with his hands or he had his camera on a stand, nothing wobbled or got grainy in the footage. The sky on Zeta Ren was clouded up, the red sun was hidden behind orange clouds. At first nothing out of the ordinary was seen, he saw a man in the far distance walking off then he saw nothing, the brown and yellow grass in the park was lush and the sidewalk was yellow, there was a few oak and spruce trees growing in odd places. It was the large oak that the camera was focused on, DuruVile was about to turn the channel to something else when he saw something leap out from behidn the tree. The person behind the camera zoomed in heavily then settled on two youth's. DuruVile was thinking, okay you've got your camera zoomed in on some youth's playing a game of chase, so what. There's thousands running around, nothing special on them. He quickly changed his train of thought when the person behind the camera changed a setting, the footage had been slightly grained up so nothing could really be seen, then the footage cleared up and he saw the two youth's clearly.

The shorter youth, who stood at six-foot exactly, was pushing the other youth that looked older than he. They pushed each other for a short while then the older looking youth ducked behind the tree. It was then that DuruVile got a good look at the younger looking youth. The youth had periwinkle-blue skin, a circular head that sat on a thin neck and a single row of red, bristle looking, hair that looked to be two inches in width that went from the side of his head, around the back then stopped at the other side of his head. The youth had no noticeable ears on his head, he had circular eyes that were a silvery color and an O-shaped mouth. When the camera zoomed in more he saw that there were also holes where a nose would be on his face. The youth was wearing a pair of gray pants that were ripped at the knees and a netted shirt, on his feet were gray and brown shoes. DuruVile was thinking that the kid was still nothing special, why his son was so interested in him was beyond him. After the person dealing with the camera had zoomed in some more the camera was sudden zoomed out quickly then was panned over to the left.

There was a flurry of activity from the dark green bushes to the left, the leaves were swaying back and forth madly, after a second the older youth ran out from them. He ran out of the bushes fast, ran at the younger youth then grabbed the younger youth around the middle and picked him up. The camera zoomed in greatly to capture the older looking youth play wrestling with the younger looking youth. They wrestled for a while then fell to the grass and rolled around. Normal male youngster behavior, DuruVile thought. Before he could turn the tv off the person behind the camera cleared the image and at that time, a fiery red-haired woman walked out from behind the tree. She looked at the two youth's, who had resumed their wrestling, then she walked forward and separated them. The owner and user of the camera zoomed in on the woman, put the camera on a different setting and that was when DuruVile yelled out a gasp. The woman's hair wasn't only red, it was fiery red and her eyes weren't just green, they were emerald-green and if he was correct with what he was seeing, there was a ring of yellow around the woman's black pupils. Before he could say it, before he could say that the woman looked like his great-granddaughter, the camera panned over to the older youth.

The person who owned the camera had one hell of a nice camera, it gave a crisp, clear image so he was able to see clearly what the older looking youth looked like in appearance. The fellow was definitely of the Zetakin people, same as the other youth, he had mint-green colored skin, he had large, oval eyes that were Pistachio colored but also had a silver shine to them set in an upside down, teardrop-shaped head and that he also had two holes where a nose would be. The youth had an athletic-looking body, he was clothed in a brown and green checkered, long-sleeved, button-down shirt, brown pants and brown shoes. When the youth stood up DuruVile quickly guessed him at standing around six-foot, one inch in height, he saw that the youth had suction-cups on the tips of each of his fingers. Just as DuruVile was thinking that the youth looked very similar to his grandson, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit, the cameraman began fidgeting, the camera moved several times, it was jostled around some. The youth that the camera was trained on looked over at the camera, his eyes locked on then he pointed and yelled out something. The red-haired woman, when the camera panned over to her, rushed at the camera, the person behind the camera got a good shot of the ring on her finger for only a second, the second that DuruVile decided that the woman was his great-granddaughter, then the woman slid to a stop, turned around and quickly herded the two youth's away.

"Mr. Surfeit, on the showing of that footage, declared that the death certificates for two of his missing be shredded. With his wife and one of his son's being seen by not one but several credible witnesses and captured on film, he says it is clear that the two are not only alive but are very healthy in appearance and that the older youth, thought to be LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit, is acting as he should for his age." Oligag Agroma reported. "Angel Irene and LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit's death certificates have been destroyed, efforts are now being made for the two's capture. There is still no word on who the other youth is, he was thought to be HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit but until recently that was dropped. Mr. Surfeit has asked that anyone in the universe that has information on the three persons of interest that we have shown you these past days to contact him via his personal cellular phone which we will show here after this report along with also showing the best and most clear stills taken from security footage of the three."

DuruVile, soon after the stills taken from security footage had been shown and he was fully sure that two of the three still images from the security footage were who he believed they were, picked up his black and gold French phone and began dialing his father's number. After he dialed he waited, the line was busy so he hung up and tried again, it took him five calls before he gave it up. He stood up, pressed the power button the remote to make the tv go off then he went upstairs. His wife had fallen asleep, he quickly undressed himself, going from wearing a black chiffon shirt that had a ruffle in the front, lace ruffled and decorative, gold buttons on the front and Victorian-style wide lace sleeves that had narrow cuffs and ruffles on the ends, a pair of black pants that only came down to his knees, ties had been tied at the knees to keep them at that length with a pair of slack-socks going down the rest of the way to a pair of black shoes to just wearing a pair of black briefs then he reached up and took his ear piece out. He had gotten this piece, this gold chair that had a silver ball on the end, from his father after he had graduated from Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. He cherished the piece, he and his father had had their rough times but they were as thick as rain. He put his ear piece in its silver case that was lined with red velvet fabric then he closed the case and turned. He slid into bed with the three images still very fresh in his brain. Before he went to sleep he thought, _boy would it be great if that woman is Angel and boy would it be great if that mint-green skinned Zetakin turned out the be Lhaklar but... who in the dickens is that other kid? I agree with the reporter on that, he's not Hazaar. _

Before he drifted off to sleep he remembered the species description of the Zetakin. A tall species that typically has dark to light blue skin, it is rare for a Zetakin to be born with light yellow, dark yellow, green or tan skin although it does happen. Zetakin's, if they have hair, it stays in one area and never grows out from that area. DuruVile thought of Qeeta, his daughter through Ashaklar who was a pure blood Zetakin. She had been born for soft, black hair all over her head and it had grown long. She matched the species description, even though she was a hybrid between a Zetakin and a Vilian. Hazaar had been born having a tail of hair sprouting from the nape of the back of his head and it had been dark purple, that tail of hair wouldn't have grown out or migrated to other parts of his head nor would it of changed colors either. Zetakin's were also known to have an eye ailment called S.A.E, or Special Ailment of the Eyes which use to be called P.S.E, or Photo Sensitive Eyes. Qeeta hadn't inherited that from her mother, who did have the ailment in both of her eyes and who wore goggled contact lenses, Tazir had inherited it though. From what he had seen, with the clouds being over the red sun that was in the Zeta Reticuli system, either one or both of the youth's had the ailment and he did remember that the red-haired woman had been spotted with the younger youth heading into an optometrists building. With this latter realization fresh in his mind, DuruVile drifted off to sleep. He dreamed of the two youth's and of the red-haired woman that had rushed at the camera when the older youth had spotted the cameraman video taping them.


	6. Chapter 6

As she went by her morning routine, cooking up breakfast for the five that normally lived in her house along with the five others that had come in after their alarm clocks had ticked off, waking them from their slumber, Cyla couldn't help but be a trifle miffed. Her husband's other children, from his other marriages, had gone off that morning while her two adult daughter's had gone home soon afterwards. The years Family Week had not been a good one and she put full, firm blame on that second son of her husband's, his son through his third marriage who went blind if he didn't have his damn goggled glasses on and who burned easily because his skin was delicate to certain rays of the suns and who dressed idiotically. Cyla Surfeit, born Cyla Dybla who had been born and raised on the planet Resha7, quickly flipped the pancake she was making to its other side then grabbed an egg and cracked it. The pan already had ten eggs in it but, since there were ten in the house now, she had to make sure that there was enough to go around. After she cracked four more eggs she went and began making bacon. There would be no empty bellies in her house, or half-full bellies for that matter. Everyone in the house, from adult to young, would have a good, hearty breakfast before they headed off to their activities whether it was just sit and watch a game on tv, listen to some music to help the waking process or take a walk in the indoor gym's track. Cyla Surfeit, started in life as Cyla Dybla, had been raised to be a strong woman, the woman of the house who kept everyone in line, she hadn't gone to any of them schools that the wife that had followed after her husband had divorced her the first time to learn how to be a woman, her parents had done the raising and they had done it well.

Cyla felt for her husband, she truly did. He had been raised by a great father, a father who had raised his only son all by himself, with no female companion to assist him. He had raised, tutored and trained his son himself until he had sent him off to his educations, he had protected his son against a plague that could well of claimed him. She hadn't been so sure of her husband's father at first, hadn't much liked the closeness of the two then, after she had found out that her husband's father was the only parent that he had she had calmed down and had accepted their closeness. Her father had always told her that it was typical for a child to be close to the parent opposite them in gender and to be on lookout for that as it could very well lead to bad behavior later on in life. She and Duru had raised three children to adulthood by watching for them signs, they had both been involved in their raising and all three of their adult children were close to the both of them equally. They were doing the same thing with Gaajah, Uevaa and Selik now, all three of their younger children were equally balanced in closeness to both she and her husband, their father.

Cyla had just finished breakfast, had just spread a good helping of peanut butter on the last pancake when she heard her oldest son speaking outside of the door. Growing children were constantly hungry and were constantly eating and she happened to of had three with three grandchildren in the house as well so she quickly grabbed up the dishes and headed out. Gaajah, her oldest of the new kids that she had birthed, stepped out of the way then followed her. She placed each dish down then headed back to the kitchen for the rest. By the time she was on her way back in the dining room everyone was waiting at the table, it was like little dinner bells had been rung inside everyone's heads, ding dong, mama and gramma Cyla has breakfast coming out, get here fast before its gobbled up. She placed the last tray, that had multi-toasted bread on it from barely toasted to half-way toasted to burned, down on the table then she took her place and breakfast began. Plates clicked, forks and knives scraped, food was lifted and placed on plates and put in bowls as was custom for ones who were getting their plates all in line before they settled in for the eating. It was the children who got their plates together faster than the adults, Cyla imagined the whole family as being them cats on Earth called Lions. The cubs had to rush in and eat fast or else, the adults would eat it all and there would be nothing left over. Cyla laughed then her eyes lit on her husband at the head of the table. He had quickly gotten his plate together, as had his and her oldest son, Kuruk. Although they were eating they were also talking and from the looks of it, it was a very hot topic type of conversation.

"I need dad to get me a bed built in the kitchen," GaajahVile Surfeit said. "that way I can dig in before you scrubs do."

Cyla, although beaming in pride at the oldest of her second set of children, quickly quieted him and told him that he would do no such thing. Gaajah had come out looking like her, he had instantly reminded her of her first son by DuruVile Surfeit that she had nearly cried. Here she was, a woman that stood six feet tall, with much of that taken up in the length of her legs, who had a light blue face which she painted with red make-up every morning. Here she was, a woman who had beady, blue eyes and who barely had a nose and who had wavy red hair with a strand or two dyed purple. Well, here was her son. GaajahVile Vulbub Surfeit stood a tall, six foot, two inches and had light blue skin just like her. He had a normal sized head but he had inherited his father's ears only they were slightly elongated, they just barely poked out from the sides of his head and where a little darker blue that his skin color and had only one black, Tiger-like stripe on them. He was wearing a black shirt, the buttons on the top were undone, and a pair of black pants, she had noticed that he had on a pair of black engine boots on his feet as she had walked out of the kitchen earlier. Cyla couldn't be prouder of her secondborn son, like her firstborn by her husband he had good genes and he showed them off well. He had a leaner body than his older brother, it was still immature but had slight muscle on it which said he'd be a strong man when he got older. GaajahVile Vulbub Surfeit was only two thousand years old, many thousands of years younger than his older full-brother.

"Who you calling a scrub?" UevaaVile Surfeit demanded to know from her older brother. "Best not be referring me to that because you keep leaving the toilet lid up in the bathroom."

"Hope you showered before you came down, your face looks like it needs a good scrubbing." GaajahVile replied.

"So does yours." UevaaVile shot back.

"You two are insane and both of you need a scrub of the face." SelikVile spoke loudly. "I'm the youngest and the most handsome."

"In your dreams, Brother." GaajahVile and UevaaVile said together.

Cyla looked at her two younger children, UevaaVile Saibi Surfeit had been a surprise to her as she had been carrying twins on her second pregnancy after remarrying DuruVile Surfeit, a boy and a girl. She had lost the male twin at the second month of her pregnancy and had nearly lost the other twin hadn't she had been put on strict bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy. UevaaVile Saibi Surfeit had been born on the fifth of December, it had been bitterly cold outside and she had been small. The doctor that had seen her had said that the male twin she had lost hd been the bigger one, typically, when it came to twins, one was bigger than the other and was healthier as well. Despite her small size, Uevaa had been a trooper. She had gotten sick twice after being born then had gotten stronger afterwards. At the moment, Uevaa, one thousand, nine hundred and eighty-five years old, was five foot, nine inches tall and had long, dark auburn hair. She had inherited her daddy's bi-colored skin type, the left side of her face and body was silver while the right side of her face and body was dark yellow. She had no viewable ears on her head but that didn't mean she couldn't hear, she had a way to pick on her two brother's which sometimes got her into trouble.

SelikVile Oan Surfeit had been a surprise baby, she hadn't expected to get pregnant after Angel and her son's had disappeared. One day, when her husband had returned home after a search that had gotten him no where he had bedded her and Selik had been conceived. He had been born big, a healthy baby weighing almost seven pounds and he had been born with horny stubs on his head. Now, a healthy, one thousand, six hundred and nine-year old, then horns had grown out. They were dark red and spiraled up on his head about ten inches. He had dark red skin on the left side of his body while his right side was fully silver, he didn't have elongated ears but normal, human-like ears that were slightly elfish. He stood six foot, exactly, and had a lean body to him that was very immature, he had not a muscle on him yet.

"What's that, daddy?" UevaaVile asked when she saw her father being passed a photograph.

"It's nothing," Cyla answered before her husband could answer. "it is nothing and no one."

She had worked hard to keep everything on a down low with her kids, had even made sure that the tv's were not able to get the news stations during the first part of the week. She had said she would leave her husband if he didn't stop searching for a girl who wasn't alive anymore. As she remembered threatening that if he continued to search that there wasn't a guarantee that she and the kids would be there when he got back for a breather. That hadn't really been fair, she felt bad for saying that and for saying that Angel wasn't alive anymore. She might not have heard from Angel as much as her husband had, she might not of been as close to her as her husband had been but still, she had been close enough to feel grief for the continued searching and the continued failings to find her. Although Angel had gotten closer to the men than the women she still had kept in contact, why she had gotten one letter a week from her and had also spoken to her on the phone twice a month, when she was allowed to that was. Angel had understood why she couldn't be as free with the letter sending or phone call receiving, she was a mother and a wife to a conqueror, she had a house to keep up, a husband to keep up with and, at that time, two kids to tend and raise. Cyla sighed, when that girl disappeared with her kids she had taken a good piece of the family with her, everyone, including her, missed the girl terribly and everyone, including her, missed them boys of her equally as terribly as well.

"Daddy..." UevaaVile said again, this time DuruVile Surfeit got his chance to answer. He was quick this time so his wife couldn't answer before him.

"It's a photograph, Uevaa." her father said.

"Of who?" Uevaa asked.

"Someone in the family." her father answered.

"Who?" Uevaa asked.

Cyla got up from her seat and went to the head of the table, although she was annoyed that her kids were asking who it was in the photograph she was curious as well. She had always been jealous of the women that her husband had married after her and her jealousy had come forth soon after Lhaklar had been conceived when Ashaklar Zoopray, now married to a man named Cheshire Ubalki who looked no more than a wet blanket than a man, had showed up. She had been scared, scared that her husband would fall back in love with her and then demand for a divorce so he could remarry her. Although that hadn't happened, the two despised each other greatly, she was still scared. Duru had been approached by his other ex's as well, just out of the blue and at separate times. Although it had just been casual talk, the what have you been doing lately, who have you married lately, how many kids do you have now, she had still been scared that he'd of fallen back in love with one of his ex's and divorce her to remarry one of them. Although that hadn't happened, and her husband assured her that it wouldn't one day when he had seen the jealousy, she was still afraid.

She had fallen for her husband quickly, she thought of him as the handsomest of the handsome and even now, at two hundred and eighteen thousand, six hundred and twenty-five years of age he had not lost a dose of that handsomeness. Her husband had a hard, experienced look on his face and glowing green eyes with yellow pupils in the center. She loved how the colors of his body and face contrasted against each other. The left side of his head and body was silver while the right side of his face and body was black and his elongated ears, of which went the length of his shoulders and of which she had to lean over to see what he was looking at so intently, were a silver color and had black, Tiger-like stripes on them. His dress-sense she adored, he looked so handsome in anything. He was wearing a black, short sleeve shirt that had drawstrings, webbing made of fabric that had large holes and gashes cut into it, detachable bondage straps with eyelit details as well as a dark gray print on the sleeves. His pants were black, the legs only went to his knees and were tied up tight by black ties just above the knees with white slacks coming up underneath the ends of the pant legs that went down to some very nice, dull black engineer boots that had a gold buckle on the sides. He had a gold chain around his neck and the ear piece, that his father had given him after he had graduated from the Academy of Sorcery and Magic, was in his ear.

"Haven't seen that picture of Angel before." she said when she saw the still of her great-granddaughter in her husband's hands. "Who took it?"

"Mother, this is a still from a security camera. Angel's been sighted several times on Zeta Ren and other planets in the Zeta Reticuli system." her oldest son said to her.

Cyla sighed and was about to head off, back to her plate at the other end of the table. She had thought the whole mess was over with after the program but with her brother-in-law having kicked his searching for Angel and her son's into hyperdrive she guessed she had thought wrong. What was worse, now she had to deal with not only her oldest son but also her husband jumping in. Cyla rubbed her husband's shoulders comfortingly then turned around, it was then that Irka, her daughter-in-law and the lovely woman who had stolen her precious boy, Kuruk, from her, handed over two other photographs. Cyla glanced at the top one for only a second then gasped, she turned back around then reached over her husband's left elongated ear and took the photograph. Her husband turned around and faced her as she backed off a foot, although she hadn't much gotten to know him personally, his father had been going through one of his phases of _oh my daddy is going to hurt my kids, I need to protect them from the big bad daddy-wolf_ at the time, she recognised Lhaklar quickly. Angel had sent her pictures of her first son by Tazir once every month, he had been a fine boy, growing well although a bit shorter and much more trimmer than his hundred year old half-brother, Bile.

"This is Lhaklar." she said.

"That's who we think it is as well." KurukVile said.

"No, there's no doubt on who this is," Cyla said. "this is Lhaklar. The skin color is the dead giveaway, so are the eyes. He got those from his mother but he got his body type and the rest of his physical appearance from his father. Where was this taken?"

"Zeta Ren, yesterday." Irka replied, she then handed over a photograph of the unknown youth over to her mother-in-law. "Do you know who that could be, the older youth was seen play wrestling with him on Zeta Ren."

Cyla looked at the photograph, which her husband told her as a still from footage taken by a security camera, at first she thought she knew who the youth was then she changed her mind. The young fellow would be a dashingly handsome man one day, no doubt about that. He had periwinkle-blue colored skin, a circular head that was held on a thin neck and there was a row of red, bristle looking, hair going around his head, starting at the side of his head then going around before stopping at the other side of the youth's head. The youth in the still had circular-shaped eyes that were silvery and holes where a nose would normally be, he also had an O-shaped mouth. Cyla shook her head, no she didn't really know who it was but deep in her brain she had the idea of who he could be but she kept that thought to herself otherwise she might of well been called crazy by everyone at the table.

"Tazir's trying to find out who he is as well," Irka said. "he was seen with Angel and that mint-green skinned fellow as well."

"My brother thought he was Hazaar at first but changed his mind." KurukVile said.

"I can tell you that the girl in the one still is Angel and that one of the youth's is Lhaklar," Cyla said. "the other youth, though, I'm sorta stumped."

"The guy who got them on camera play wrestling in the park on Zeta Ren says they acted like they were brother's. He got there thirty minutes before he started filming them, he says he heard them talking brotherly, goofing around, casting jokes like crazy then started their play antics. Pushing, poking, chasing, wrestling." Irka sighed. "The red-head, the man said, when she came up to the boys they both called her mom or ma."

"Could Angel of..." Cyla gulped, she felt horrible for saying this but Angel had, as a matter of fact, ran around with a gray-haired man before and for a good long time as well, she had ample time to couple with him. "had an affair after she disappeared? Had an urge and coupled with a Zetakin male who helped her create the younger fellow?"

"Possible, quite possible." DuruVile said. "But she seemed very loyal to Tazir..."

"Urges make people change." Cyla said, she then went back to her chair at the other end of the table and began eating her breakfast which had gotten slightly cold.

Although they were men and hated the long, drawn out shopping thing that women did they were both happy to be able to do something other than sit in their living room with their eyes peeled to the tv. Their mother had decided to drive all of them out, Tazir and their father were out looking at new leads while they were out shopping, getting their minds off of what was constantly being run on the tube. Amadh had been so transfixed on the news that he had missed four new episodes of The Files of 8, which he never did, and Efagti had been so transfixed to the tube for the newest tidbits that the news ran that his older half-brother discovered that he had totally about his shows which he'd only miss if an emergency came up or if he was too busy with the farm and its animals. Their mother, in the next aisle over browsing the dresses and china dolls, had gone back and forth from he tv. She had been keeping herself doing her usual routine, cleaning, cooking and tending to the young and her husband. Efagti couldn't help but look over the rack at her, he had always thought of her as a beautiful woman and that thought didn't cease now.

There was his mother, tall and with a petite body, her breasts were medium-sized which made her look a little unbalanced. Her long arms ended in hands that had suction-cups on the tips of each finger of which she had passed down to all of her children. Her eyes were large and oval sized and were a silvery color, very shiny and beautiful to look into. She had on a long, light purple dress that had a matching belt around her waist, the front was closed and the dress went down to the ground, she had put on purple heels before leaving the house but they were hidden by the hem of the dress. She had a silver chain around her neck from which a heart-shaped blue sapphire that had a diamond set above it, a sterling silver strand went through the curved around the heart-shaped blue sapphire. His father had given her the necklace the night before, it was a present, one of many that she had received from his father the same as the matching ring on her finger. It was natural for one to think of his or her mother as the most beautiful woman in the universe and for him, that was his mawmaw, as he called her sometimes in affection or, sometimes, when he wanted something.

Amadh, who thought the same as his brother about his mother, had something else on his mind though. He saw the comics and, being an avid reader of the strips, he walked over. He picked up the first one, which was Captain Sploo, a comic on a superhero that rescued the women from the men who wished to do them harm. He read through that one quickly then he reached for the next one which was a Munk-a-Bunk comic, about a monkey that was super smart, so smart he could talk, read, do math and who was a professor at a college who also doubled up at nights as the ultra mean yet cool security guard. He read through two pages then put it down, although he was alright with cursing and did curse from time to time he wasn't one for the heavy-duty cursing which was in the comic. The next book he picked up, and intended to purchase, was a joke book. Just as he lifted the book, Jokes for the John Version 5, from the rack a young Zetakin walked up beside him and took the copy of Munk-a-Bunk that he had just glanced through and had put down from the rack.

"Might not like that one," Amadh said to the youth. "has bad words in it."

The youth said nothing in return so Amadh figured that he wasn't going to talk. He went back to looking through his book, he had about a hundred dollars in his pocket which he had a mind to use and the book he had in his hand was going to be his first purchase of that day. The youth beside him read the comic fully then put it down, Amadh noticed that when the youth picked up the next magazine, one that was on hunting, that he did it quickly. This seemed to have to young guys attention as he walked off with it. Magazines in this section were a little more than the comics, about two dollars cents, while the comics were just a dollar, the joke book he had would cost him two dollars and seventy-five cents, if he would have bought the book at one of the bookstores in the area he would have had to pay much more for it but since this was a sort of free-for-all store, everything situated on racks according to price and category, it was cheaper. Amadh decided to head someplace else, he was heading towards the section where the knives were when he happened on the youth again. It was this time that he got a good look at the youngster.

He recognised him immediately, the periwinkle-blue colored skin, the thin row of red hair that went around the sides and back of his head, the circular eyes that were silvery and the cherry on top, he was wearing a pair of gray pants that were ripped at the knees and a netted shirt. Amadh put his book in Efagti's basket, told him to hold onto it for him then he went over to the youth. Efagti, who was too busy looking at something the he was interested in, missed the slight vocal altercation between his brother and the youth but when someone yelled out _thief _he looked up. The youth from all the bulletins was running out of the store with his brother hot on his trail. Efagti gave his mother the basket then ran off in pursuit. The youth turned on a dime, he had a very fast turn which would have spilled him to the cement had he not of had his footing correct then he ran down the sidewalk a ways before volting over a fence. Amadh leaped over the fence after him, Efagti followed then they both slid to such a stop that dust flew around them. The youth had ran up to a fiery red haired woman who both men knew on sight.

"Angel?!" Efagti exclaimed.

The red-haired woman reacted quickly, she grabbed the youth then swung her arm around them. They dissipated quickly, leaving a cloud of smoke behind them which disappeared a few seconds later then the alleyway grew quiet. Efagti always carried a bottle of water with him which he had drained earlier and was bone dry so he walked forward and scooped up some of the dirt that Angel and the youth had been standing on. Amadh, who was breathing hard behind him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. He had simply walked up to the youth and had said _hey, haven't I seen you on the news _then the youth had come back with _hell no, lemme alone_, then he had took off with no explanation as to why. The reason why the word thief had been yelled out was because, when the youth had taken off, he still had the magazine with him, obviously he had been on his way to returning it to the rack but since he had caught him off guard he had forgotten that he had it and had taken it with him. Efagti, after he collected the dirt that the woman that he was sure was Angel and the youth had stood on, stood up then walked over to his brother's side.

"We in agreeance as to who we saw?" he asked his younger brother. Amadh, still in a daze, nodded his head. "Think Tazir will want to know about this, you have the phone with you?"

Amadh and Efagti were both asked to go to the local station for a sketch and interview session with the chief on the youth who had made off with the magazine. They both gave off as much as they could, answered what questions they could then sat and waited. Amadh had given his cellular to Efagti just before they had headed back to the store, the call had been made to TazirVile about the sighting and he had arrived quickly to check into their sighting. He had even done an exploratory telepathic session on Efagti to see the woman that he and his brother said they had seen and who they claimed was his wife. Although TazirVile didn't know who the youth was that he had also seen in Efagti's memory he had been a sport and had payed for the magazine he had taken off with. Cheshire and Ashaklar picked up their son's after an hour and took them back home, both of their older son's headed right up to their chambers and went to sleep. They slept for hours, not getting up until their alarm clocks went off the next morning then got up. They got a surprise when they were downstairs, during the night the woman that they had seen had been sighted again but on a different planet in a different galaxy with the youth that was said to be LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit three times. The two had been cornered by a dumpster by the law, working in favor of TazirVile Surfeit, but had teleported away just in the nick of time but not before the youth that looked like Lhaklar had said _let's get out of here, ma. Back to...rth_. The red-haired woman had hushed the youth just before he could say the full word but the deputies were sure that he had been saying Earth. TazirVile had a hundred of his Goblins now on Earth, he would be on the planet in a few hours. The place he had chosen to look had been set to the side, it was a national landmark in the United States called Expedition Island that was in the state of Wyoming that was said to be the starting place of Major Wesley Powell and Vitaly Develvis had begun their expedition down the Green River and Colorado River in 1871. When his mother had asked if they could come and assist their older half-brother had said that they could but to please not get in the way.

"How come you're going there daddy?" EshalVile asked, her father was having a cup of strong coffee from which he had added a dash of brown sugar and a spoonful of creamer in just a minute earlier.

"You know them samples that Efagti collected yesterday?" EshalVile nodded her head, she had been told about the samples that her cousin had collected that her mammy and the unknown youth had been standing on. "There was a collection of silt in the soil that your mama and that youth was standing on that is consistent with the soil that comes from that area."

"How big is this place? Is it big or small?" Cheshire asked.

"About twenty acres, surrounded by the Green River." TazirVile replied.

"You think mam will be there?" EshalVile asked her father.

"There is quite a possibility that she could well be there." TazirVile replied. "Doubt if they were just passing through, even though it's open to the public and your mama is one for seeing national landmarks, I doubt if she was just passing through."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because there were three layers of the soil from that location in the sample that Efagti collected yesterday. All older than the first." TazirVile said. "One layer is five days old, the layer below it is three days old and the layer that is below that is the most recent one, only a few hours old."

Eshal knew that one could simply test the soil to know who was there as a person left a signature behind always and that also, soil told where that specific person had been recently. It was a very useful technique in finding where a person who was missing was last or in finding where that missing person could be. She was glad that her daddy had gotten the sample that her uncle had taken from where her mama had stood when he and Amadh had seen her. The past few hours for her hadn't really been good, she had tried to keep herself busy but the thought of being able to see, talk and run into her mama's arms again was just too strong and emotional fo her. The phone in her grampa's place had been going off constantly, her gramma, as she called Ashaklar, had answered it and she had overheard that it had been them other family members, as she now called them, that she hadn't really seen these past few hundred years but had talked to on the phone from time to time when holidays and her birthday came around. Apparently, her uncle, grampa and great-grampa were wanting to help in the searching. She knew how her father felt about them, they had abandoned the search and had stopped looking for her mama a very long time ago, she felt a betrayal for that. She had nearly dropped out of Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic because of their betrayal, it had gripped her so badly and had set her emotional self off so bad that she had very nearly called her daddy and said I wanna come home. She had roughed it, she gone through the two hundred and fifty years of her enrollment in Pronghorn then she had roughed it through the University of Telepathy right after, both graduations had been so hard, just seeing her daddy there and not her mammy or her brother's there to join in on the day she would go onto the next level. She knew her grandfather saw her as a failure, she had overheard a telephone conversation between he and her daddy where he had said that since she could only do Energy and Acidic Powers and not Elemental Powers she was a dud to him, nothing special, he had said. That had hurt her greatly, here was her grampa who she had grown up being, at first, afraid of, then had turned to loving and now here he was betraying her with his disgraceful words. Her daddy had stuck up for her, he had shouted at her grampa that what he had said was a lie and that he should be shame of himself for saying it then he had noticed that she was listening in and had demanded that she get off of the phone now. She had done so, but her opinion on her grampa had changed drastically afterwards. So along with her grampa giving up the search, she had to also deal with his opinion on her. She loved her mama, she would always love her, she had been the only mama she had and for her to be gone it had hurt her, now that she was known to be alive Eshal felt as if one of the missing pieces in her life was about to click back into place.

She had been a pest to Bile, she remembered. Following him around, tattling on him, making fun of him from time to time. She remembered tattling on him one night when he had slipped his vegetables under the table, her daddy had told him to clean it up then, when Bile had returned after disposing of the vegetables he had slipped under the table he had found a fresh batch on his plate. As with each tattling, Bile wouldn't talk to her afterwards for a few days. She had tried to kiss him one day, playfully, and he had ran off yelling _cooties! Daddy, Eshal's trying to give me the cooties! _Eshal smiled at this, just the memory of seeing her little brother, a big boy at that time, running away, throwing his arms up in horror at her attempt to give him a playful kiss, had been hilarious. The next attempt she had actually kissed him on the cheek and he had faked puking then had dropped on the floor of the living room, faking having died from the fabled cooties that his three hundred and one year older sister had given him. Well, if Bile was found alive and well she'd have plenty of "cooties" to give him because the first thing she was going to do was wrap him up in a hug then leap up and leave a large smooch on his cheek. _Mmmmwah, enjoy the cooties, Little Brother_, she would say, _now that you're back you will be getting them every day_.

Lhaklar had been a good, little brother but he had had his moments of mischief and had needed discipline from time to time. While Bile had been one for going around the yard, saying he could lift that rock, that boulder and that horse clean off of the ground, Lhaklar had been one for "stealing". He was one to snatch the newspaper every morning and read through it before her daddy could even touch it and he was always walking out of her daddy's library with a book or two under his arm. One day, when she had been five hundred and ten years old and he had been three hundred and nine years old, when she had caught him glancing down when he was at the table eating lunch she had yelled it out that _Lhakie is eating a book instead of his lunch, daddy_. Her daddy would, afterwards, say _Lhaaaklar, hand it over _which would get a hilarious guilty look from her little brother before he'd hand the book he was reading over. When he had turned four hundred and eighty years old he had gone into the library and had snuck out a horror book that had quite a lot of cursing in it and, after reading the book fully, from front flap to back, he had used one of the naughty words just outside of the back door. Daddy had been asking for him to come in and he had said _fuck no _which had thoroughly pissed her daddy off. Besides being a "stealer" of the houses books, magazines and newspapers, her little brother had also been a fast, little tree climber. He had tore off to the nearest tree in her daddy's back yard and had climbed up it fast, by the time he had gotten to the top her daddy had begun climbing it. Regardless of his climbing skills, he had been a bit of a slow runner so after that event when he had been either caught saying a bad word or had said one outright he had been ran down then placed over the spanking knee then would be sent up to his room. She had tried her little cooties thing on him a few times, she had leaned over and kissed him three times and all it had gotten from him was his hand coming up to brush away her kiss then him saying gross, keep your girlie germs to yourself.

She had wanted a little sister pretty badly and had been thrilled when she had found out that mammy had a little girl in her after Lhaklar had reached four hundred years old. When the supposed girl, her said-to-be little sister, had been born a boy instead she had asked if there was a box to return him so she could have the sister that she had wanted. That had gotten a glare from her father and an Eshal! from her mammy. She had sort of teased baby Hazaar in secret, saying that due to the tail of hair that he had on the nape of the back of his head he had inherited a girl gene and was really a boy-girl. By the time he was fifty years old she had already started calling him her BroSis. Like her father, she had been thrilled when another baby had been conceived and had done the asking again. Is it a girl? Please let it be a girl. The unborn baby had turned out to be a boy, another little brother, and she had been disappointed. She had dropped her disappointment for fear when her mam had gone into premature labor and baby Lazeer had been born at five and a half months gestation. She had prayed to the Universal Gods, saying that if they made him healthy and kept him alive that she'd never ask for a sister again, she'd be happy with all the little brother's she had and all the little brother's she'd have afterwards. Lazeer had been a sick baby when he had been brought home, small and weighing only three pounds, didn't move much and didn't cry much either. She had done what her mammy and daddy had done, had spent as much time with him as she could. When he had lived past the two days that he was said to only be alive after leaving the hospital she had wondered if her praying was working, she had been sure when he had lived to four months of age, three months out of the hospital that had said that he'd be alive for only two days after he had been brought home. By that time she had begun to wondering how he'd react to her teasing then her mammy and little brother's had all disappeared, taking a big chunk of her life with them.

"Is it just a hundred of your army going or are you taking the ship as well?" EshalVile asked at last, all of the remembering had taken a full five minutes.

"We'll teleport there, no use in spending unneeded fuel just yet." her father replied quickly.


	7. Chapter 7

He knew his phone was saying it was busy, he had put it on that setting so he wouldn't have to hear what all everyone was thinking and what all everyone was seeing on the tube. He also knew that he had had two guests in the past twenty-four hours, the last twenty-four hours of Family Week, of which he had not let into his house. He had told his staff to lay low, not make a word, and the two guests, one his son and the other his oldest grandson, had left without knowing he was in the house that they had visited. The only guest he had let in was Cyla, his daughter-in-law, but when he had let her in he had been quick to telling her that he was not at home nor would be for a while. Like with Shlock's Plague, he had hid himself well, had made himself scarce and had made the house up tight so not even a breeze could get in. Unlike Shlock's Plague, he had another family in the house with him, his uncle and his brood who had decided to come over and visit for the second half of the week of Family Week. He led his daughter-in-law past the foyer, which was large and oval in shape and had head busts of each member of the Surfeit family running around the outer edges with puke-green and yellow vine-like plants hanging down from the ceiling which was tan. The floor underneath his and her feet was white with tan swirls on it and the walls were a light brown. He quickly led her down the hallway that went from the foyer that had a dark green carpet with light red thorny designs on it in silence, there was the occasional torch or two on the tan walls which were lit, an orange flame rose from the torch bowls, there was a single, little copper vases caught the oil that dripped from the torches placed directly underneath each torch. There were photographs of him and his only son on the walls of the hallway, of him and his two oldest grandson's and then of him and his youngest grandson's followed by a photograph of him with all of his grandson's on one side of the hallway while on the other were photographs of him with his granddaughter's, great-granddaughter's and great-great granddaughter's, of which there were only two in existence but only one in the full known world as one had disappeared one thousand, six hundred years ago taking all of her son's with her. He led Cyla into the living room and it was there that the conversation started, she had an album with her, a photo album sp he knew she was going to ask for him to look at the stills that were being shown on the tube and do comparisons then ask him for his opinion on who the one, younger youth was.

"I figured you was home, my husband told me that it looked as if you was away." Cyla said to him. "Hope you don't mind me coming over on such short notice."

"I have never minded a member of my family coming over, been keeping a down-low because I don't want to be a part of any of this. It's just nonsense, wishful thinking gone too, very, far." he replied.

"I thought that as well until I was shown the stills." Cyla walked over and sat on his couch, she took the picture album that was held under her arm down and placed in on her lap.

He didn't want to say it, but his daughter-in-law looked strange sitting all alone on a couch in his large living room. He had bought the house fifty years before he had disappeared, had just signed his old house of which he had raised three children to his only son and had only begun to move in when he had decided to go on his little trip to a galaxy that was no longer in existence which had claimed his health and had forced him to drink a potion to put him in limbo for a while. There were three dark blue couches in his living room that had light gray gashes on them. A gray marble fireplace that had photographs of him and his family, candles and a spell-enchanted flowering vine growing on the mantle sat directly in front of the couches. There was a thick glassed coffee table between the couches and four matching side tables placed on each end of the couches, two of which had hand-carved ashtrays that were glued onto the surfaces. The floor underneath his feet was a very nicely polished dark wood, there was a large dark green and black rug that had light green designs on it placed underneath the couches and tables. A black chandelier that had diamonds glued onto it hung down from the ceiling, it held black candles, diamonds on strands hung down from the chandelier, they cast out a very shiny glow into the room below, this was his most favorite piece in the room, he had designed and had overseen some of the construction both before and then after he had been brought back from limbo himself. The walls in his living room were a multi-brown color and the ceiling above was near brown.

In fact, seeing his daughter-in-law sitting in a large living room all by herself made him feel funny as well. He had been pro-claimed as the most eligible bachelor in the universe and he was available still, he still lived alone, he hadn't even tried to find anyone and the reason why was because he still had that night two thousand, one hundred years ago fresh on his mind. They had all been sleeping when the door to his oldest grandson's fortress home had been blasted open and had all been still groggy when the three beings had ran up the stairs, going up to the fourth level where is great-great granddaughter was with his then-youngest grandson, Tazir. The three beings, of which he had found out were all related to him, had knocked Tazir out cold then had grabbed Angel and had raced back downstairs then had entered the staff's quarters where a problem was encountered. The butlers and maids had all taken a stand against the three, a fight had erupted which had killed ten and had injured thirty more then the woman he had been interested in had been grabbed from the chamber she had been sleeping in. The one who had been very badly injured had teleported away, he had been told that she had had hair that was as black as night except for the ends and bangs which had been blonde, had taken the woman with him while the two others had ran with Angel back upstairs. There had been more fighting, he had joined in and had gotten seriously injured, a pink energy strand had struck him in the stomach opening a five-inch gash that had been pretty deep, which he had a scar of to remind him further of that night, then the two had ran out of his grandson's house with Angel firmly held in one of their arms. The only way that they had been able to stop the trio was to injure one critically, Tazir had done that one himself. He had ran out of his brother's residence, he had been told, like a bat out of hell then had swung his arms out then had shot them forward. A strand of lightning, the color of black, had zoomed through air for a short while then had struck the one that had been holding Angel in the back.

The being, who he had been told later on was his oldest great-granddaughter who had been disowned for attempting to harm family members in an extreme fashion, had dropped to her knees, had slid a few feet then had gotten back up. Before she could head back and get Angel, who she had dropped about five feet behind her, she had been struck by a combination black lightning and acidic strand that had struck her shoulder with such power that it had made her fly back ten feet. No one was really sure what had happened next, his oldest grandson said that his daughter had been teleported away by her daughter while others had said she had teleported away herself. All he knew was that the female, who had had deep purple hair with gray and white mixed in and white eyes that had small, black pupils in them, had teleported away leaving the other being, another female, behind to face everyone. Tazir had sent her packing quick with a double strand of white fire, two acidic rings and an energy beam of green that had made a hole open up in her shoulder about two inches wide. After she had teleported away Angel had been collected, she had been taken inside and had been locked up then everyone who had been injured was tended to while the dead had been counted. No Goblins had been killed, but the one named Zshon Zultoa had taken a nasty blow on his arm when he had rushed in to get his great-great granddaughter from the three women. Zshon Zultoa nearly had his arm severed from his body, the energy blast, a triple pink strand, had been a powerful one. He had also nearly lost an ear and had nearly lost his nether region from a good, solid kick from the leader of the pack, the woman that had had dark purple hair that had gray and white mixed in it. If the three women who had tried to take off with his great-great granddaughter were still alive, they had some pretty bad scars on their bodies to remind them of what had happened as well.

ShaamVile walked forward then sat down beside his daughter-in-law, he took the photograph album from her lap, that she had opened, and closed it then he reached over and grabbed her hand. He missed Angel too, he had written to her quite a lot and she had always responded, when she could that was. They had also talked on the phone, despite her knowing of his sexual habits, of his high libido, she had still accepted him for who he was and hadn't put him down for it. He had fibbed in the program, yes, he had said that he had been at the hospital when Lazeer had been born, and he felt right bad for that. When Angel had disappeared with her four son's he had searched pretty hard for her, he had joined up with most of his grandchildren in hopes that the more with him the more ground that could be covered per planet that he went to search for her and the boy's. Yes, he still hurt from having to give up the search, he would have searched forever for her and the boy's but then his common sense had kicked in. Two hundred years and not a trace, if she wanted to be found she would of been sighted by now, you've spent two hundred years away from your family. With that in mind, he had dropped out of the search, the grandchildren that had joined him in his searching had also dropped out for the same reason and had gone back to their lives. The only ones who had continued searching were his two oldest grandson's, and the Ubalki's. They had searched for a long time then, after seven hundred years of searching, his oldest grandson had come to his senses and had dropped out of the search, heading back to his family, his little ones, leaving just Tazir and the Ubalki's to do the searching. Did he feel bad for abandoning the search? Yes, he didn't go through a day without feeling the old anger at himself for abandoning Angel and her son's, for giving up hope. Did he feel for Tazir? Yes, he knew that Tazir was hurting bad inside and was clinging to a hope that Angel and her son's, whether all of them or just three, would be found alive. He knew that Tazir loved Angel, he probably loved her more than anyone else in the family and that, he knew, also spurred him to continue his searching. The hope and the love, ShaamVile wished that he hadn't of lost hope and that his senses hadn't switched on, he wished that they would let him head back into the search again but they wouldn't let up. Like everyone else, he was also missing a chunk of himself, Angel had taken a piece of him with her when she had disappeared with her four son's. It would always be missing, he knew, as long as the pain was still there, as long as the hurt was still in his heart, it would always be there.

"I have seen the images on tv and can say that it's just a setting gone wrong on the cameras," ShaamVile said. "the cameras have Tazir thinking that who he is seeing is Angel when the woman is not."

"What about the ring?" Cyla opened her photograph album and showed an extreme blown up still of the ring on the fiery red-haired woman's ring finger.

"Blown up images are distorted images," ShaamVile then pointed at the blown up image of the ring. "when this was blown up the circular gem became oval and it also distorted the color," he pointed at the triple rows alongside the oval aquamarine gem. "see all of these had been slightly pulled up and down and then to the sides. The color was distorted as well, see the brown. Went from brown to a very deep orange."

"That's the shine from the gems..."

"No, Cyla. The blowing up of these stills distorted everything. Made everything change." ShaamVile said.

"Not secur..."

"All cameras, Cyla." ShaamVile said.

Cameras had really evolved over the past one thousand, six hundred years. ShaamVile knew that security cameras no longer showed grainy, gray, blotchy photos and no longer was there the slow-timed cameras. All security cameras gave crisp, clear, color images and they were all fast. Even though, small things could still be misinterpreted such as the ring that Cyla had showed him in that blown up still. She was now showing him the picture of the younger youth, he took one look at it then stood up and went to his fireplace. He stood in front of his fireplace, although he had thought that the youth was Hazaar earlier he had changed that quickly. He had gotten plenty of photographs from Angel in her letters of her third son, he knew from memory what Hazaar had looked like and that youth in the still was just not him. He had heard the report from two days before where Efagti and Amadh Ubalki had chased after the unknown youth after he had taken off with a magazine after Amadh Ubalki had walked up and had asked him if he was the one being shown on the news, that just didn't add up either. He knew that Angel would not raise any of her children to be thieve's, in his eyes that kid had purposely ran off with the magazine, he had been intending to steal the magazine.

"It's not any of them, Cyla." he said at last. "Not even the green-skinned youth. Did you notice how many times the guy had to change the settings on his camera? Did you count how many times he changed the settings on his camera?"

"I didn't see the footage so I can't..."

"Four, and he had to change the settings on his camera quite a few times." ShaamVile replied. "Four video distortions, the person was seeing two either dark blue or light blue skinned Zetakin youth's and thought he could make a quick buck by fabricating a sighting. That's all."

"But... Amadh..."

"He chased after a thief, Angel wouldn't raise one of her children to be thieves. I know that for sure and can say that for sure." ShaamVile, again, interrupted his daughter-in-law. "The woman that he and Efagti saw, she was waiting for that youth to come back with the goods. She was the mastermind, the youth was just the pawn. Sadly."

"Tazir went to Earth." Cyla said.

"Yeah, what'd he find? The news ran a story saying that there was a sample found in the soil where the woman and that youth were standing on that they claimed came from Earth which is preposterous. Angel has that planet tight, all of her shields are still up." ShaamVile said quickly.

"He sent a hundred of his ground troops to Earth, they scouted a place called Expedition Island, in Wyoming State, United States." Cyla replied. "They found two camps, looked previously used and several carcasses that looked as if they had been hunted with tools."

"So what, humans hunt." ShaamVile pointed out. "They hunt, they take what they want then they leave the rest, they waste the rest of the animal that they had taken down."

"He said on the news that there was two prints near both carcasses, one that looked female."

"Again, Cyla, so what. Women on that planet hunt." ShaamVile said. "Is this Expedition Island a park? What is it?"

"A national landmark on Earth in the state of Wyoming," Cyla replied. "it is a park."

"A park open to the public?"

"Yes,"

"Then whose to say that the prints that he found aren't plain human prints? A woman and a man went camping, did some hunting, then left. Simple as that." ShaamVile said.

ShaamVile saw his daughter-in-law off twenty minutes later then turned and walked to the room where he had set up all of the items that he had inherited over the years. Cyla had gotten upset after he had pointed out that Tazir had probably found prints from normal humans, humans that were no importance to anyone. She had broken down, had cried loudly and had thrown her photograph album down to the floor, he had done all that he could to comfort her but in the end, she just decided to head back home. She left the album behind, he had picked it up and had placed it on his coffee table, he'd give it back to her when he saw her last. He couldn't help it now, he couldn't help the anger he felt at his grandson. By his continued searching he had further hurt other members of the family, the women especially. He had dug up graves that had been long-buried and had sifted the soil, looking for anything of interest without giving it a thought of who he might be hurting in the process. As ShaamVile walked into his Inheritance Room he noticed that there was talking in the room, he detected his uncle and his uncle's wife then he detected their son. He had been hoping to head into his room, look around at the inherited items that family members had willed him over then exit quickly. The fact that his uncle and aunt and cousin were in the room, and the fact that they were talking about family, he knew that he was in for another conversation on Angel and her son's.

"Hello Trob," he said when his uncle turned when he entered the room.

"Shaam," TrobrencusVile said quickly.

"Hello Shaam," Bahne Brotzol said.

"Hello Bahne, everything alright with you two?" ShaamVile asked, he was just being polite, after all they were guests in his house. He had to make them comfortable.

"Yes, we had to disconnect the tv in our room," Bahne said. "hope you don't mind."

"Just can't keep seeing and hearing it all," TrobrencusVile said. "just too much."

"Haven't had my tv turned on all week, don't want to see any of it." TrivitVile said.

"I don't mind, been thinking about doing the same with every tv in my house." ShaamVile replied. "As it is, my phones are set to busy so I don't get any calls on it and I have refused further guests. I want no involvement."

TrobrencusVile Surfeit looked at his nephew, the only other member of his family that had survived Shlock's Plague besides his family and his great-nephew, Duru. His nephew was a gentle man, a man who told things as they were, was easy-going and level-headed but, when he was conquering, he turned all that around and went into a frenzy. When he had gone to conquer the Bunswana Galaxy he had been quiet, his nephew had gone into his tactical, well militarized trained self, he had gotten mean in his conquering, had showed off his great powers and strengths and had won the galaxy quickly within two months time. The galaxy had fifty planets in it and he had conquered them with no trouble at all. His nephew was tall, standing six-foot, six inches in height, and was very strong. The top half of his nephew's body was strong and sturdy while the lower half of his body was slender, his arms were thick with muscle and his chest looked like a barrel. He, indeed, looked like an upside down topper. The left side of his head and body was carmine pink while the right side of his head and body was maroon, his elongated ears were a burgundy color and had black, Tiger-like stripes on them. His nephew's eyes were white, there were small, red pupils in them. He had long, maroon-colored fingernails on each finger of both of his big hands. He stood in front of him wearing a dark green jacket that had gold hems and pockets that was long on the left side, going down to the ground, while the right side went down and stopped at his waist. Underneath his jacket he had on a dark green vest that had green ties over a white shirt that. He had to value his nephew's dress-sense, here he was, wearing some of the best styles in the universe. Besides the jacket, vest and shirt she also was wearing a dark green pants that had buttons going down the sides and white slacks, on his feet were a pair of brown suede boots that's tops were pulled down. There was a gold chain running from his left jacket pocket, it went up to his vests right pocket.

"Vile put out a warning to Tazir this morning," Bahne said. "for him entering his planet with his permission."

ShaamVile sighed, not in despair but in relief, he and his great-grandson might not see eye to eye on most things but when it came to the continued searching for Angel they were both in agreeance to that. Both agreed that it shouldn't be continued, both thought that others were being hurt by Tazir's continued seraching and both saw it that if Angel or her son's were alive they would have seen or heard something of them by now. ShaamVile hoped that his great-grandson would say something on the searching, he was, after all, another of Angel's mates and he was, after all, Bile's father not to mention the planet in which Tazir had just visited was, technically, his and he did, technically, have say on who could go in and who could go out. Earth had become vulnerable after Angel had disappeared, the Machine Empire had given it another go after it had tried to claim the planet soon after Angel and her son's had disappeared, as had Divatox, a space pirate and her croonies, Astromeda and Dark Spectre, Trakeena, who, as surprising as it had been to find out, was working with one of his family at the time, Scorpius, Queen Bansheera, Ransik, Master Org, who had been trying to usurp his great-grandson by foolishly putting Master in front of his name, Lothor, Mesogog, the Troobians, a warlike alien species that were in the service of Emperor Gruum who, again, had been looking to show to the universe that his great-grandson was going down due to his age and family ties, Octomus, another creature who had tried to show the universe that his great-grandson was growing weak but had failed miserably like all of the others, and so many more. Each had tried, each had met up against a team of teenagers in spandex suits and each had also met up with his great-grandson, Vile Vile, and had been sent packing quickly soon after. For the past four hundred years no one being even attempted to enter the planet Earth to try to take it from Vile, ShaamVile was surprised that no beings had tried to take Tazir's conquered planets or galaxies, they were sitting, unprotected. He guessed it was because of Tazir's reputation to be a fierce warrior, one who led his warriors into battle shirtless and who fought like a savage beast despite his physical appearance of non-specialness.

ShaamVile looked at his aunt, his uncle's wife. Bahne Surfeit, born Bahne Brotzol, was a beautiful woman. She stood a graceful, five foot, five inches tall and had long, creamy colored hair and bright, fully blue eyes on a face that was heart-shaped. She had an hour-glass figure with her breasts being large and her hips being slightly smaller. Despite having gone through Shlock's Plague, being quickly moved to an underground bunker when she had been heavily pregnant and having given birth to her twin son's in that bunker then having to see her husband walk off with one who hadn't survived the birth to bury the little one and having birthed eight children, she looked very much the same. She had lost none of his nobility, now on her beauty, and not a shred of strength or desire. ShaamVile couldn't be prouder to have an aunt like her as his aunt.

"He's also stopping all reporters from reporting anything on the search, same with newspapers. Not a one is allowed to run a story on what's going on." TrivitVile said. "About time, he should have done that way before now."

"He should just plain order Tazir to stop fully, Angel's his as well. He has a say as well in her." TrobrencusVile said. "Not to mention, Bile's his son too. He has a say in him as well."

ShaamVile nodded his head, TrivitVile might be a trifle shy but he did have a way in voicing his opinion on things. TrivitVile Surfeit had been born during Shlock's Plague, his twin brother had been born before him and had not been born alive which had scared his parents off something fierce. He looked like a combination of his parents, from his father he had inherited his Zombie-ish face that was complete with facial coloring that was under his eyes that were a puke-yellow that imitated puss and red fleck-like patches on his cheeks, neck and arms. His heart-shaped head, cream-colored hair, which he had grown out long, he had inherited from his mother. His facial and body colorings were what set him off as a sure-fire Surfeit. The left side of his face and body was red while the right side of his face and body was purple. He had a lean, but strong as steel, body. He worked at a museum and was right smart.

ShaamVile laughed inside when he remembered how Angel had reacted when she had first seen his uncle, he had simply scared her out of her wits by his sheer physical appearance. He had simply walked into the nursery that was in Kuruk's fortress home and Angel had stood stock still, she had been too terrified to move much less say hello. She had gotten use to him after a few years, he and she had exchanged letters about twice a month, but they hadn't really gotten as close as he had wished that they would have. It had been a surprise when his uncle had joined in on looking for her after she and the boy's had disappeared, he had put in a gallant search, he'd be on one planet no more than an hour before heading to the next to hand out fliers and do bulletins. His uncle, despite having the Surfeit bi-colored face and body, was very Zombie-ish in appearance. His face, the left side being light blue as was the left side of his body and the right side being a creamy color the same as the whole right side of his body, was very Zombie-like. There was red, imitation-like, blood running and dripping from under his eyes and there were several red, flaky patches of flesh that looked as if they were drooping on his face and his lower lip drooped and looked shredded. His uncle had scruffy, dark purple hair on his head, it was nice and trim, cut nicely in the front and sides but in the back there was a single, braided strand that fell down past his collar-bone that had a dark purple bow on the end. His uncle had no ears. The irises in his eyes were red while the sclera around them and the pupils were white. He was a big man, maybe not as big as he was but big and good in strength, he stood six-foot, four inches tall.

"Anyone ever think of an intervention?" Bahne asked. "Go and talk to Tazir, have him talk out all of his emotions, get it all out."

"We have done that," ShaamVile said. "we've talked and talked and talked to him, he just won't listen."

"But did you..."

"We did, didn't work. We thought the program would be a help in putting the searching to bed but as you can all see, it hasn't." ShaamVile sighed. "That and people wanting to make trouble. People who are dressing up like Angel and her son's, walking around with cameras..."

"Acting like them people one Earth do with Bigfoot." TrivitVile said. "Making a hoax."

"Yes, making up a hoax which, sadly, is getting what they want it to." ShaamVile said. "Attention."

ShaamVile looked at his inheritance items, a majority of the items in his collection had been willed over from the father's, or other close relatives, to the son's who would will them over to the son who was most successful. The Surfeit family had started out great and was still great to that day, it had had it's issues, as all families had and it had nearly been wiped out when Shlock's Plague had come around but it had made a comeback with his, his son's and his uncle's efforts. His great-grandfather, WexVile Surfeit, he remembered being told, after he had inherited his father's sword he had encased it in a thick glass case which had needed constant cleaning because the sword inside had a flame going on inside of it. His great-grandfather, IackVile Surfeit, had done something similar but had used a cooling system on the swords that he had inherited which had near destroyed them. After IackVile had died he had willed over both his father's and his grandfather's swords and his own sword to his father. RaalVile Surfeit had placed each sword in a separated triple enforced glass case which hadn't really worked all the way. When he had inherited the swords, and other items, he had been smart in his designing of their cases. They were all in open cases, open to the elements. His builder had thought him crazy until he had called in the security personnel. He had had a security beam, five strands went across the open cases which, if anyone got into his house and had intentions to steal anything, would burn the fingers and hands clean off of the bone. All of his inherited swords were in order and he made damn sure to clean them once every two weeks.

There was his great-great grandfather's sword, two cases to the left. The sword was a gold and silver gripped one that had a golden blade that was long and curved. The tip of the curved blade was silver. His great-great grandfather, LynkVile Surfeit, had also willed over the sheath that was right beside the sword, the sheath was full gold sheath that had rubies running down the center. He also had LynkVile's goblet, fighting helmet and spear as well but he mostly looked at the sword. He had a plaque right in front of the case that said who the sword belonged to and what accomplishments had been made with the sword in the wielders lifetime. He had put up similar plaques in front of all of the swords in his inheritance collection.

The sword beside LynkVile's was of his great-grandfather's, WexVile Surfeit. His sword was unique, it was a titanium steel sword that had a blue curved design down the middle of the blade. There was a twin coiling snake design on the grip. The sheath of his great-grandfather's sword was mostly titanium steel but it had an explosive design of blue on the top that tapered down in a curved design down the length of the sheath to the very bottom. ShaamVile didn't much look at this sword, WexVile had done some fine things with the sword but he had also used another sword which he had lost sometime after returning home from conquering a galaxy. The sword next to his great-great grandfather's was the one that he looked at quite a lot.

It was his grandfather's sword, IackVile Surfeit had done some wonderous things with his sword and for it to be in his collection was outstanding. It was a bronze sword with a bronze and silver dragon grip, the dragon's mouth opened up. The bronze blade of the sword looked as if it had been puked up by the reptile designed grips. Although the blade was full bronze, it had fleck of silver and gold on it that was very bright, he had just polished and cleaned the sword that day just before Cyla had come in. The sword's sheath was bronze and had a dragon's skull in thick gold at the top and a dragon's wing design in thick gold at the bottom.

His father's sword came next and it was very unique. He had grown up knowing the sword, he had held it as a boy and had watched as his father had washed, polished then had propped it up on his sword rack. It was an iron sword that had three iron strands coiling around a swirl of blue flame that was in the middle of the sword. The grip and handle, even that day, was very strong, there was a bright strand of blue diamond along the grips. His father had never used a sheath, his sword had always flopped naked at his side, hanging off of his belt. He had once tried to make off with it when he had been two hundred and ninety-two years old and he had gotten a surprise. His father, RaalVile Surfeit, had been a good father, he had been stern and strict at times but most of the time he had been good, kind and nurturing and he had thrown in some good goofs from time to time when they were called for. When he had touched his sword, intending to get his father to chase after him in one of his favorite games of chase the sword had belched out blue flame and he had jumped back in shock. His father, who had had his back to him, had turned around quickly then had dropped to his knees. He had checked him, asked him if he was alright then he had seen that he had made a ring of fire form around his hand. His Elemental Powers had been sparked up by the touching of that sword and thus, his training in the powers had begun shortly afterward.

Angel had seen all of the swords, all of the goblets and gauntlets and bows, arrow cases with their few arrows, spears, laces, mallets and so on one day when she had come over for a visit then had asked him if he wanted her swords one day. She had four, a black sword, a clear sword, a bronze sword and a pearl-white sword, all of which she could join together to make a very powerful weapon that she had dubbed the Gladius Magnus, the Great Sword. He had been humbled by her asking of that question then had said for her to keep her swords, that one day they might come in handy for her as she was a pretty good swordswoman and that, maybe one day one of her own son's would want them. As ShaamVile looked at the swords in front of him he was suddenly struck with the realization that he couldn't remember what powers Angel's son's had had before they had disappeared. Angel was an excellent wielder of not only Energy but Elemental Powers, Tazir was an excellent wielder of not only Acidic but also Energy and Elemental Powers along with having Telepathic powers as well. Hadn't one of her son's of exhibited Elemental Powers before? How about Energy Powers or Acidic? Didn't Bile one day nearly burn a tree down by shooting a gush of flaming air at it? He couldn't remember and that saddened him enough to leave the room.


	8. Chapter 8

The usual routine whenever his family sat down in the living room of his house was the usual, _will you move please, quit elbowing my ribs, daaaaad, he keeps hogging the popcorn _and his old, personal favorite where everyone at once asked for the tv to be either turned up or turned down a notch or two. He was so use to this that his answers came automatically. Dlahsleon, move an inch over for your sister, Beaufi, quit elbowing your brother and Arenzoar, share the popcorn or put it down. That night was different, as Homsi Modulavich took his seat in his old, comfy brown leather chair that had an ottoman in front everyone was quiet. Arenzoar, his oldest son, didn't hog the refreshments. Beaufi, his youngest daughter, didn't elbow either of her brothers and Dlahsleon didn't sit on top of one of his siblings. The two younger children, Gizzeppli and Galiza, twins that were just three hundred and eighty years old, sat down quietly which was rare and he respected that because the program that was about to come on was to have his employer's daughter on it. Eshal's first program, the first program she had ever been allowed to be on and the first program she had been allowed to do on her own was just a short two minutes from airing.

Homsi couldn't help but feel proud of the girl, the week before she had been thrust into seeing her father running around like crazy, looking into this promising lead and then the next which, both he and his wife, thought were very genuine. This new week had been harder for her. His employer had been barred from entering Earth, he had gone to look into a place called Expedition Island located in Wyoming state in that good ol' place called The United States and he had found several campsites and several recently made kills, mostly deer but one moose and one bear. After that he had been given a warning to not enter the planet again without permission from the planet's said-owner who was no more the owner and ruler of the planet than a bull that was heading to the fabled island that had just cows on it for his retirement years. Afterwards he had sent two single Goblins out to do bulletins on the planet and had ordered one to remain which had thoroughly pissed off his nephew, the said-owner of the planet. He was now banned but boy, the leads were coming in. There were hundreds that said of a fiery red-haired woman that had been seen in deserts, in forests, even near lakes or oceans hunting with a mint-green skinned alien or if her being seen with an immature dog that looked as if he had rolled around in sand or dust to warp his coat color. His employer was being threatened now, if he didn't stop with the nonsense, as his so-called family called the searching and his hoping to find his wife, he'd be disowned.

"Let him be disowned," he had thought upon hearing of the threat. "he don't need none of them, he's doing fine on his own, always has and always will. Not like they were ever, fully interested in finding Mistress Angel anyways. A majority gave up quickly, others gave half-hearted searches of just passing fliers or doing one or two news interviews or bulletins."

When Eshal had found out that her father had been threatened of his family status as a Surfeit and of being barred from searching the planet that her stepmother who she treated and saw as her real mother and who had been there for her always up to her disappearance she had flipped and had demanded quite fiercely to be allowed to do a program all on her own. Eshal was a young girl, still, but she was sure showing strength. He had seen her growing up, he had seen the boy's as they were growing up until they had disappeared along with their mother. They had all been good kids. Sure, they had had their moments of ill-behavior, all children had them moments and rights to being bad from time to time, but all five of them kids had been good kids. Lhaklar, when he was walking real good, was almost always at his elbow, following him around, while Bile was Kalach and Losal's constant buddy. They had kept up with their job duties, cleaning the house, making sure everything was in good shape, but they had also kept up with the kids. He had taken Bile and Lhaklar out one day for pitching a ball when he had had nothing to do, Bile, he remembered, had had a good, strong-arm on him while Lhaklar couldn't catch at first then had gotten better after the fourth attempt to catch the ball.

The kids in the servants quarters had also had their moments with Bile, Lhaklar and Eshal. The girl Goblin children, called Goblies in their culture until they reached educational years then it changed to Goblinette, had played with Eshal and had joined in on her girlie play activities such as playing with dolls, playing make-up, doing their gossips and, of course, making up ways to get on the boys' nerves while the boy Goblin children, simply called Goblins in their culture, had joined up and played with Bile and Lhaklar. He knew that he had caught Bile wrestling with Arenzoar and Dlahsleon several times, and Lhaklar had been caught making mud pies with Losal's son and one of Eldass' son's as well. That horrid DuruVile Surfeit had beaten and verbally abused his son, Tazir, for playing in the mud as a child, Tazir, he remembered, had encouraged it. _Go on, be boys. Play in the mud, get dirty, scrape a knee, get into trouble_, his employer had said to both Bile and Lhaklar one day when they had been caught eyeing a big mud puddle. Well... Bile might have taken that a bit too far as that boy had been one plenty for scraping both his elbows and knees, getting dirty and getting into trouble. Lhaklar had been more of a clean freak, liking to be clean and tidy and have himself something to read. Eclaire had near screamed herself raw one day when Bile walked into the hallway, his shoes on up to his knees all muddy.

Bile had done that one too many times and had gotten into trouble for it quite a lot, although Master Tazir was an excellent parent, he allowed for his children to be children and that included his stepchild, he had also done his disciplining. A spank here, a spank there, a grounding, some chores, no dessert after supper... the normal discipline not the kind that he had been raised up getting. He hadn't used belts, sticks, whips or his fists on the boys or Eshal, he hadn't been too rough with them when it came to getting disciplined and for that, Homsi was glad. It was that damn Master Vile that had tried to be too rough with Bile. One day when the guy had come over for his weekly visit with his son and had seen him throwing mud balls he had yelled and had demanded that his son come out from the mud at once. When Bile, no more than four hundred and ten years of age, had said _no _the man had ran forward and had grabbed him up. Bile had ran into the house shrieking and crying at the top of his lungs and had hid behind his mother, his father had whipped him badly, so badly that his rear end had turned purple the morning after. Master Vile had done that plenty with the young boy, he had whipped him harshly with not only his hand but with sticks and he had also insulted him badly. Had it not of been the combined efforts of both Master Tazir and Mistress Angel saying that if they found a thing else was done on the boy he wouldn't even get a chance to visit and spend time with him again he would have continued.

Mistress Angel had been an excellent mother, just the same as Master Tazir had been an excellent father. She had don'e more than tend her son's and Eshal, she had socialized them well, had taught them how to use a sword by first showing them steps by using a stick and she and Master Tazir both had taken up their tutoring. Lhaklar, a book worm, had been a geek and thus, had gotten A's on all of his work while Bile, more so on his physical strength and still not very mature brain-wise, had gotten mostly B's and C's on his work. As Mistress Angel had told him one day,_ that boy will be a big man one day but I fear he might slip in brain power_. That would have turned out true hadn't Bile of kicked that _I'm going to be a tough man one day who won't need to know math, english, history or science because big, strong, tough men don't need that _off of him and hadn't of gotten down with his studies. Homsi wished that Hazaar and Lazeer would have gotten a chance to get into that full on walking around, talking phase before they had disappeared, that would have been something to see four boys running around the mansion. He could imagine it now, three of his employer's actual son's running around, getting into trouble together and his employer's adopted son, his stepson, joining in with them. Oh boy, would the mansion of been full of yelling had that of happened. Bile and Lhaklar had been close, when they were together they had been loud but when Lhaklar had been on his own he had been quiet, Bile was the same though. Whether with his brother or no he was loud. He remembered Mistress Angel calling her father up to ask him if Rito, her older half-brother, had been like that or if he, himself, had been like that with his brother, Triskull. The man had said that neither had Rito or he and Triskull had acted that way and the reason why his son and the ill one, as he had called him, was because they were spoiled rotten.

Master Tazir had spoiled his children, all of them, not just Bile and Lhaklar, he had also spoiled Mistress Angel but there was a difference between his spoiling and Master Vile's saying of spoiled rotten. Master Tazir had bought them toys, make-up kits, painting kits, books and models and the such about twice a month, he let them play and be boys and he let Eshal be a girl. He hadn't spoiled them rotten, that would be him plopping a new toy or model or painting kit on their laps once a day every day. He had given his wife dresses, jewelry, new shoes, had bought her two new pets and had also let her redecorate a room to her liking, an empty room had been turned into a full flower room and it was still that way today. Master Tazir kept adding new flowers, kept the flowers alive by either watering them himself, which he preferred doing, or having him water them when he was away, and taking flowers that had died and replacing them with either the same flower or a similar flower. Master Tazir had done all of this because he loved all of them, he showed his love through not only his words but also his actions and they reciprocated them. Bile had gotten his mother to take him one day when Master Tazir's birthday was two days away and he had bought him a very expensive ash tray, Lhaklar had been one to jump onto his father's back and give him big hugs, he had gotten his mother to buy his father a bat decoration which his father had been thoroughly surprised at and Angel had given herself fully over to him. They were all a happy family, for Mistress Angel, Young Master's Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer to all be gone now he saw an incomplete family, a family that wasn't happy and thus, all of the staff were also not happy. All of his co-workers worked as they should but it was very evident that everyone was depressed deep down. Depressed that the happy family was now broken, a majority missing, a majority said to be dead. The silver lining had stopped being silver, the gold mine had gone dry, the water well got dry, the sun had stopped casting its rays down, that was what had happened when Mistress Angel and her son's had disappeared that night.

"It on yet?" Abara, his lovely wife, asked when she walked into the room.

"N-..." he was about to say, the program came on right then and there. His wife sat on the arm of his chair and watched beside him.

"Good evening, it's nice to have all of you tuned in today because we, at Exposure Hour, have a very special guest with us today." Upegt Daque, a short man that had tusks growing from the sides of his mouth and large, green eyes, said. "Our very special guest today is at my right, EshalVile Surfeit. Daughter of TazirVile Surfeit and Bespe Colik, stepdaughter of Angel Irene. Ms. Eshal contacted this show late last night asking for a chance to be on the set to speak of the recent developments that her father has met up with. Ms. Surfeit," Upegt Daque turn to Eshal, who looked very uncomfortable but acting in a somewhat mature, professional manner. "how have you been with these recent events and the now events which include family of yours?"

"I've seen better, Mr. Daque. I have seen better." EshalVile Surfeit, as the bar underneath her said, replied.

"What's wrong?" Upegt Daque asked. "From reports, you and your father were thrilled to utmost happiness last week, what's happened to make you this way?"

"My grandfather... calling up my father and saying that if he doesn't stop looking for my mama that he's going to disown him." EshalVile replied, she was fighting tears. Upegt Daque handed her a box of tissues quickly which she took politely.

Poor girl, Homsi thought, maybe not the best of times to do a program. Not only was Eshal not experienced in doing programs, she had no clue in how to compose herself, how to act, how to keep control or even how to act professional. She was giving an effort but her experience was very evident. At least she was trying, Homsi was thinking. Upegt Daque had been running Exposure Hour for eleven years, it was a program where people let it all out. Where people just exposed it all out, let all the darkness and clouds out from their inner selves and received some sort of help. Women got on the show to talk of their problems with their marriage, with finding the father of their child, of their life in general. Men got on the show to talk of their general problems, fertility, being shunned by the girl of their dreams, their trouble with their parents or siblings, problems with drugs or with alcohol or even with smoking regular cigarettes or with finding a job or their inability to keep a job. Most of the time, it was just people that made the viewers shake their heads or laugh something awful. Homsi and his family weren't the only ones watching the program that night, every Goblin and his or her family were also watching it and each and every one of them felt for the young girl that was being asked questions. Upegt Daque had just asked Eshal why her family was considering disowning, Homsi had a feeling that his employer's daughter was about to break it all out, bring everything out on the table.

"Because they don't care, that's why!" she said loudly. "They want to forget all about my mam, they want her to be put in a closet and locked in. They don't want her or my baby brother's to be found or brought back home."

"Could you be mistaken about that? They could be hurting and just want to..."

"No, I am not mistaken. You don't just drop someone you love like that," Eshal snapped her finger quickly then put her hand down. "when you love someone and they go missing you don't just search for a while then stop looking for them. You don't just go by your life thinking nothing of that person. That's not how it works, when you love someone you stick by them forever, you don't just go by them for a short while then drop them like a bad service."

"That bad?" Upegt Daque asked, the camera caught him swallowing once, deeply. He was deeply effected by Eshal's words as were Homsi and his family who agreed with her fully.

"Yes! Everyone's acting like this searching is a bad thing. What are we doing that is bad?" Eshal looked at the camera. Her face was young but it was showing the signs of what she'd look like when she would be a grown woman. "We're looking for one of ours that we love, we are not giving up hope. What's so bad in keeping up our search especially now that we have leads coming in? Not only from this galaxy but also sightings from Earth."

"So its true, Angel Irene has been seen on Earth?" Upegt Daque asked.

"Yes, we have hundreds of images of her and one who we think is Lhaklar, my baby brother, hunting. There was one person who called saying that he spoke to her and that she did use her real name." Eshal replied, someone in the audience asked to talk and Upegt gave the say for that person to talk.

"Honey, we have all been watching the broadcasts and I think I speak for everyone in the audience when I say that what you and your father are doing is a great thing. You two should be proud of yourselves, I'm sure your mom is." the woman said after she had been handed a mic. "If one of my children had gone missing or even my husband I would be searching too. You are doing nothing wrong."

Exposure Hour was like this, the audience, handpicked individuals who were just picked up from the street from several planets in the universe, would give advice and, also, people would call up the program and would get a chance to talk as well to the guests. Usually, it was only allowed for five people to call in while twice that were allowed to talk from the audience in the building. Several people were allowed to stand up and talk, many that stood praised Eshal and her father for their searching, wished them good luck and gave them their support, there was one who said that it might be time to just give it up and he was glared at by a majority of the members in the audience. A woman had just given advice to his employer's daughter to stay strong in the fight to keep the search going and that if her grandfather did do what he had claimed he would do that it wasn't the end of the world because, if they did find Angel and her son's, they'd have something to rub in his face not to mention, they were better than he was. A commercial came on, Homsi got up long enough to go pee then he came right back. His wife had kept his seat on his chair warm, she got up when he came back into the room and sat back down on the arm of his chair beside him.

"Welcome back," Upegt Daque said. "we had quite a lot happen since the break. Ms. Eshal here has spoken with five wonderful people during the break who have helped her greatly and we are about to take a caller here in just a second. Ms. Eshal," Upegt Daque looked over at Eshal, whose face was streaked with tears and yet, she was calm. "are you ready for caller number one?"

"Yessir, Mr. Daque." EshalVile said strongly.

"Our first caller happens to be..." Upegt was handed two cards, he looked at the first card then discarded it and looked at the next. His brow furrowed then he looked up. "Our first caller will not be allowed to speak to Ms. Eshal due to his being of her grandfather and we at Exposure Hour are not wanting any fighting to happen in this tender time. The next caller will be allowed to talk now. Can you hear me, ma'am?"

"Yes, I can hear you loud and clear, sir." a woman with a honey sounding voice replied distantly.

"What is it that you wish to say to Ms. Eshal, Ms. Bakerly?" Homsi sat upstraight, Ms. Bakerly? He couldn't have just said that.

"Is she fully able to hear me?"

"Yes," Eshal said.

"They're still the same, aren't they? After all these years they still act like they know it all don't they?"

"Huh?"

"You've grown well, gotten much bigger than when you was the last I saw you. When was that again... seven hundred and ninety-nine years ago? Eight hundred years ago?"

"Ms. Bakerly..." Upegt Daque looked quite uncomfortable and confused, Eshal looked plain confused yet curious at the same time.

"Who are you?" Eshal asked. "Ms. Bakerly? That sounds similar to what was signed on the sign-in sheet at Goggles for All."

"That's because I am the one who signed in there, dear." the woman replied.

"Mam?"

"Yes dear, figured that one day this would happen but never imagined that it would spark this type of searching or hurt within you guys." everyone in the audience and everyone who was watching the program's jaws had dropped low. Homsi had pulled forward in shock. "I've been keeping up to date on things, had to after what happened on Viro."

"W-...where've you been!?" Eshal began crying. "eh... are my br-brother's okay?"

"I cannot answer that, you guys have to find that out for yourselves but I'll give you all a big clue. You listening?"

"Yes,"

"You've been searching in all the wrong places up to recently. Keep searching where you was told to not search and you might just find something."

The program ended fast after the woman who had just told everyone who she really was for Homsi. He got up from his chair, tripped over the ottoman then ran to the door to his and his family's quarters that was under his employer's mansion. Before he could get out of his quarters the phone rang. His wife, who was still seated on the arm of his chair, had her hand up to her mouth. She was in extreme shock, everyone in his quarters was and he had a feeling that it wasn't just them. He had a feeling that everyone in the staff's quarters underneath TazirVile Surfeit's mansion were gawking at their screens in shock, trying to put what they had just heard into place in their minds. Homsi ran over to his phone, a regular phone as he wasn't one that liked to live elegantly or have things that said he was rich. He was far from that, he was very well off and that was good enough for him, he didn't need oodles and globs of cash sprouting out from his pockets, twenty cars, mansions on fifty planets or three pools in one. TazirVile Surfeit was the rich man that he worked for, a good man who was respectful and who he, Homsi Modulavich, was damn proud to work for. Homsi picked his phone up quickly, dropped it as his hands were shaky and he was still worked up from seeing and hearing what he had just heard, then he put the phone to his ear. He had expected for the caller to be his employer, it wasn't. The caller turned out to be none other than his employer's neighbor and best friend down the road, Gloar Rovnitov.

"I know that you just saw what I just did, Homsi." Gloar said, he was very excited.

"I did, I'm trying to calm myself down but yes, I heard it." Homsi said.

"I imagine that they are all going crazy over on Zeta Ren," Gloar said. "the program was cut off soon afterwards, Eshal was just sitting there, her mouth agape in shock."

"Don't blame her, I was sitting here with my jaw dangling almost to the floor."

"Nearly fell off of my chair when... she exposed who she was." Gloar cleared his throat twice, trying to get himself together. "Vixbie and the kids are going crazy over here."

"The misses and the kids over here are still transfixed to the screen." Homsi said. "I nearly ran out the door, to tell you the truth."

"By any chance do you think you can give me Tazir's cellular number?" Gloar asked. "Maybe this time I can help out in bringing her in."

"I don't think he'd let you join in but I will give you his number." Homsi said, he then began reeling out the numbers. "7...7...1...5...4...3...8...5...4...2, don't be surprised if he cannot be reached for a while. He'll probably be using his cellular for a few hours."

"I understand, I'll call him now and leave him a message though." Gloar said. "I hope her father and that family of Tazir's was watching when that call was sent through. They got a good kick in the face on that one."

"I hope so as well," Homsi said, his wife had just gotten up from her seat on the chair's arm. "Gloar, gotta go. My misses calls me."

"Talk soon, keep up the hope and faith."

"Always."

Homsi did his chores around his employer's mansion the next day slowly, he forced himself to do the dusting, polishing and checking of furniture slowly as, if he would have done it quickly he not only would have missed a lot of dust, prints and dirt but also he'd be thinking of the night before. He had gotten hardly any sleep at all, that call from Ayla Bakerly, who the newspapers were now fully calling Angel Irene, had been so thick on his mind that he just couldn't sleep and from the looks of several of his co-workers, they had had a similar night. Eldass Zultoa came in with heavy bags under his eyes, his son, Zshon, had come in looking the same way and Losal Khrelan looked as if he had stayed up all night long. Several of his co-workers worked in silence, he knew that if they spoke a word that it'd most definitely be on the call put through on Exposure Hour. After a few hours of working, Homsi found himself staring into the room that had all of the articles, photographs that had been taken over the years before his wife and her son's had disappeared, recorded broadcasts and copies of the leads or discoveries that had been made in the search for them either placed in picture frames or put in clear cases. His employer had framed quite a lot of articles on his wife but he also had five full books with articles in them as well. Not knowing that he had done it, Homsi walked into the room. He walked among the hanging things, looking at them yet not looking at thing, thinking of them yet trying to not think of them. He was sure that, when his employer brought his wife and whatever surviving son's she had still with her, back home that his employer would bring her into the room quickly to show his efforts to find her and her son's. Homsi had done something similar, he had an album that had a few articles in it as well. Up to recently it had been trim but with the new leads he had been cutting out the articles and putting them in his little album. He'd not read them first, he'd cut then add them to his book then he'd read them. Like with all of his co-workers, he had sealed his loyalty to Angel, just before Lhaklar had been born he had been asked to go to the library for a meeting, Eldass had been the leader of the meeting and he had said simply _our master is happy beyond the word and we have his mistress to thank for that. She's given him something he has never had in a partner, she's given him something that even his own family is too proud to give him and that is respect and love. I don't know about you guys, but I'm willing to stick my neck out and risk persecution by Goblin Law by writing myself loyal to her for this_.

Goblin Law specified that one Goblin had to be employed by someone for more than two years before considering loyalty and then that Goblin was to wait another two years after that before he or she did the signing. Eldass had, indeed, stuck his neck out by signing his Loyalty Papers with Angel Irene's name. He could of been shunned by Goblin society, no longer allowed to mingle with other Goblins or be able to hold a job for any amount of time, Goblins would talk bad of him, spread bad rumors of him and he and his family would be sans the life that they had lived for many thousands of years. Homsi hadn't much liked Angel at first, he had been given the chore to watch her and he had just taken his responsibility as that. Watch his employer's niece, keep her fed and watered, keep an eye on her but don't get close. Losal Khrelan had sure acted nasty towards Angel, when he had been given the chore to watch her and keep things quiet in the room that she and Eshal and baby Bile had been in a few months after Bile had been born. When his master's niece had gotten a bout of her mately pains he had rushed over to quiet her up and that had sparked his master's niece's drive to fight and defend herself. He had put Bile in the closet before he had gone to quiet Angel up then he had rushed forward and grabbing her, he had clamped his hand over her mouth and nose tightly, cutting into her cheeks with his fingernails in the process. He had also slammed her body to the floor to knock her wind out and had slapped her in the back of the head a few times as well. Zshon, regardless of her punching him in the nose, had been a sport. He hadn't treated her badly, but he had distanced himself from her though. It had not been an easy chore to watch her the second time that his master had captured her, she had been a lashing fairy, as Eclaire had said one day.

Eldass had slit his finger with a needle then had held his finger over a bowl, his small, ceramic bowl which he had only used once and that was when he had signed his loyalty to TazirVile Surfeit, then he had grabbed his red feathered quill. He had written AI right underneath his employer's initials then he had stood up, he had had a look on his face, he had been proud of what he had done in signing over his loyalty to the woman that his employer was so in-love and taken with. Homsi had followed afterwards, he slit his finger with his pocket knife and, instead of writing AI on his Loyalty Papers in his blood with a quill he had written AI with his finger. There had been a few _you two are crazy _yellings, some had said that they were not signing their papers with her initials because they didn't trust Angel or because they were not sure about Angel while others had followed suit in the loyalty sealing. Zshon, Daosi, Yhozah and Mekaia Zultoa had followed in their father's example and had signed their Loyalty Papers with AI. Eclaire, Entantya and Spleehae had as well. Kalach Speelin had signed his Loyalty Papers after thinking it over, his brother had not signed his papers at that time but soon after returning from KurukVile's residence with Angel, Lhaklar, Bile and Master Tazir he had. Olok had refused to sign his Loyalty Papers as had his twin brother, Ulok. Losal had signed his Loyalty Papers two nights after the meeting. In all, about half of the two hundred Goblins and Goblinettes had signed their papers after the meeting then twenty more had signed their papers in the two to three days that had followed.

"Hello, Homsi." he heard, Homsi turned his head to the right and saw Losal looking at the photographs of their employer's son's.

"Hello Losal," Homsi said.

"Vile has put up a blocking squad around Earth, heard it over the radio about an hour ago. He just refuses to let Master Tazir in to do a search on the planet." Losal said.

"Master Tazir will get into the planet," Homsi said. "didn't the guy see the program last night?"

"No, he has all programs that mention his daughter blocked from being aired on Gamma-Vile." Losal replied. "Last I heard, Kuruk, Duru, Shaam and that Trob-guy had to go to a planet in their conquered galaxies to watch the program."

"What's Vile's problem?" Homsi asked point-blank. "Doesn't he want Mistress Angel and her son's found?"

"He doesn't care, never has really." Losal replied. "Remember how Mistress Angel told us how he allowed his staff to discipline her?"

Homsi remembered, he and Losal had found Angel in the library, she had been upset and when they had found her they had automatically gone up to assist in calming her down. She had been upset over Bile having been whipped harshly by his father, who was also her own, and had confided her fears to them quite quickly. One of her father's employees, a man named Lynster, had struck and had injured her with a book one day after her father had done a spell to make her become five years old, or five hundred in their terms, while another employee, a man named Kelso, had simply watched. Their mistress had confided that she was afraid that her father would let one of his staff hurt her son as her father had asked for Bile to spend a few days with him at his palace on Gamma-Vile. Losal had been furious, so had he, when their mistress had asked them what she should do they had both said for her to tell her fears to Tazir. Neither of them had heard of one using a book against a child, much less an employer letting his employee discipline a child of his or her own. When Tazir had confronted his nephew on this his nephew had acted like it was no big deal and that had been the end of the question as to if his son could go over to his place for a week. For Bile's safety, and for his mother's sanity and emotional health, he had stayed with his mother and adoptive father, and stepfather, Master Tazir.

"I remember, acted like it was no big deal." Homsi replied.

"You let your servants beat your own children, no wonder Angel wants nothing to do with you and no wonder she doesn't want her and your son near you." Losal repeated his employer's words to his nephew on the subject. "I've been looking at the photos of Master Tazir's son's for the past five minutes. Trying to figure out who that other youth is."

"Lhaklar was pretty much seen and identified, images only show but so much, cannot wait to see him in person." Homsi said. "Not so sure on the other one, though."

"Can't be Hazaar," Losal said.

Due to both he and Losal being very trusted by Master Tazir and Mistress Angel, they had both been able to hold Hazaar and Lazeer, the latter after he had gotten home from the hospital. Hazaar had looked up at them then had looked over to the side at his father for a few seconds before looking back up at them. He had been a medium-sized baby, weighed only five pounds and nine ounces and had been measured at fifteen inches from head to foot but that hadn't of mattered much. Within day two of his life he had been so moving that his mother refused to stand when she held him. Lazeer, he had opened his eyes only twice when they had held him, he had looked so tired and weak that they had kept the holding down to only two minutes before handing him back to his mother. All of his co-workers and he had waited, they had all expected for Mistress Angel to walk into the chamber that she and Master Tazir slept in on the second day then scream and begin crying out after finding her youngest son lying still and cold in his crib. Mistress Angel had nursed that baby quite a lot and that, quite possibly, had saved his life and had made him live far above his expected life expectancy out of the NICU in the hospital. After he had reached that four month stage in his life he had weighed nine pounds exactly. He had gone from being so tiny and fragile, being only five inches long, to being nearly ten inches in length from head to foot and starting to move his arms and legs around. At that four-month stage in his short life that had begun so early he had formed a little ring of red on the sides and back of his head and the photo that Homsi was looking at showed that little, thin ring of red. Homsi sighed, he wondered what his employer's youngest son would look like now if he had remained in the mansion for more than three months.

"Can't be Lazeer either," Homsi said. "he was born fragile and small and, although had gotten bigger in weight and size he was still not healthy."

"You don't think Mistress Angel would have gone and done an affair on Master Tazir, do you?" Losal asked. "That's all I can come up with on that one youth."

"It'd be a shock if she had gone and done an affair on Master Tazir." Homsi said. "I'd be very shocked if she had an affair."

Ashaklar did all that she could to comfort her granddaughter, Eshal was a big mess after the program had been canned after no more than twenty minutes of being aired and it was all because her mother had finally announced who she really was. Like her son's and daughter's and like her husband, Cheshire, when Angel had said that she had been the one who had signed in at Goggles for All with the name of Ayla Bakerly she had dropped her jaw in shock. Her oldest son had been in a room in the back of the set when the call had been put through and when she had exposed who she was he had ran out of the room yelling for the producers to keep the woman on the phone. Angel had hung up her end of the phone after giving the hint that they were searching in the right location now and there had been a track put on the number and frequency of the call. The call had, again, been made from Albany, New York, from the same payphone that she had called Navub Babusa to set up the appointment for the young youth she had been seen with so many times. Her son had gotten the Goblin that was still on Earth to check where the phone was located and the Goblin had said he had very nearly missed seeing a woman with fiery red hair. The woman had been getting up after severing the wires to the phone, when she had heard him walking up she had took off. The Goblin had said that all he had seen was a flash of red, a glow of red off of the wall and he had heard running footsteps. Stories were running rampant now on the news, newspapers were throwing out articles like crazy, she had taped each and every news bulletin, story and had also clipped each and every article from the paper she had come upon on what had happened the night before on Exposure Hour.

Tazir and Cheshire were both trying to get onto Earth to do another search, they had encountered problems with Vile who refused them entrance to the planet. The man, who hadn't even seen the program or even heard the caller say who she really was, was adamant that they stop their searching and go home. After five hours of trying to get on the planet had failed, her son had gone to the Space Trafficking and Routing building on Qay, a planet in the Ewrlo Galaxy, and had requested entrance to the planet on grounds of substantial evidence of one of his missing being on the planet. Vile had showed up and there had been a brawl, both men had fought both by words and by their fists until they had been separated. The Space Trafficking and Routing judges couldn't do a thing due to the planet being legally owned by Vile so her son had gone to Brol, he had opened up a new case on his nephew and this one was to have all rights to entering and leaving the planet that his wife was said to be on and for him to continue conducting his searching on the planet. Cheshire was waiting, he was on the moon that orbited Earth waiting for her son. Efagti was with him, Ashaklar had a good feeling that as soon as her son got his clearance that they were all going to the planet.

"Why wouldn't she say anything on my brother's?" Eshal asked again, she had a thin blanket around her shoulders and a cup of cocoa in her hands. "I asked and she..."

"Quite possibly wants us to find that answer out for ourselves." Ashaklar answered.

"I wonder if Bile's still alive," Eshal took a sip from her cup of cocoa. "and Hazaar as well."

"I am sure we will find out when we get on the planet." Ashaklar said.

"You mean, if we get on the planet." Eshal glared at her cup of cocoa then placed it down on the table before her. "I can't believe this! Vile bars us from the planet after we find she is on it, he claims that the caller was a fraud then he fights my daddy."

"I don't think that man cares much about anything but himself," Ashaklar sighed. "himself, Rita, Rito and Thrax."

Ashaklar had been told things by Angel that had made her mind do somersaults. Her father had used a bullwhip on her the second time he had caught her, he had done a spell to turn her and her two older half-siblings into children and had allowed his staff to beat and injure her with books, he had spanked Bile so hard that his little rear end had turned purple the morning after, he insulted Bile, put him down and had told him that he was a spoiled rotten brat. Ashaklar knew that Vile, the being who liked for the whole universe to call him Master Vile, had also tried to kill Lhaklar and Bile at one time and had actually killed Angel, he had thrust his hand, with his long, dark blue fingernails sticking out, into Angel's stomach then had ripped them up then out, opening a large wound on her stomach. She had the scars on her body from his abuse and the scar from the day he had actually killed her. The Universal Gods had sent her back saying that she had gone from her life way before her time, Ashaklar was grateful for this. The Universal Gods had corrected a wrong, had brought back a life who had so many loved ones. Ashaklar had also been told of how that man who demanded that everyone in the universe call him Master Vile had raped Angel for days and that Bile had been the result of such actions.

If Bile was alive and if his mother had told him of how he had come to be created he surely would have something to hate his father for forever. What child, male or female, would still love the parent that had harmed one that they were close to? What child, whether male or female, would want their father near them after being told that daddy abused mommy, raped her and then you was created and he loved you for only a year then wanted to discard you to create someone better? Ashaklar wished she would have left Duru after Qeeta was born, that way he would have not have had the chance to abuse her son further. There had been plenty of days and nights where she had thought that her then-husband would have killed their son, she had been plum scared to death about her son being so badly beaten he couldn't walk or worse, had been beaten so badly that one of his little lungs had collapsed or his heart had become punctured. She was marvelously proud of her son, he had lived through all of the abuse, he had matured well and, the thing she was most proud of, he was being an excellent parent. Not once had he used a stick on Bile or Lhaklar or Eshal, not once had he used a fist against one of his children, not once had he insulted and belittled them, not once had he used his Elemental Powers against his children to try to spark up their powers. He had been patient, he had let his children be children, he had let them develop and show their powers when they saw ready to do so.

"Your father will find and bring back Angel and what son's she has," Ashaklar said to her granddaughter. "that includes that one youth."

"I want to know who he is." Eshal said.

"So do I," Ashaklar said. "so do I."


	9. Chapter 9

Twenty miles of green met his eyes, he saw that half of the twenty mile island that he had appeared on was covered in forest while the half he was on was clear. There was a white path going all around the island, there was an area behind him that had some benches, some picnic tables and two canopies set up and then the water of the Green River met the island. All around the island, Expedition Island it was called, was the river. Upthrusts of mountainous rock were on one side of the river, they were multi-brown and cream colored, thick trees were growing in front of the rock. Cheshire saw the debris of houses that had once dotted the waterline, his stepson had told him that at one time a line of houses had dotted the waterline but, after the Green Plague, an illness that had ran rampant on the planet for three long years that had claimed some one billion persons, the houses had been abandoned and the location had been allowed to go back into its original state before humanity had settled in with their families. As he looked out at the forest across from him he reminded himself that he was to keep his eyes open. The judges that presided over the Elder Courts had reached a decision quickly, Tazir was to have full option and abilities on Earth while he searched for Angel and whatever son's were still alive.

Cheshire saw other, smaller, islands, other islands that were like the one he was standing on but, unlike the one he was standing on which was set up as a park, those island were flat and had quite a bit of overgrowth on them. Bushes, small pine trees and rocks was what he saw on the islands behind him. There were rapids nearby, he heard the water churning. As he took a few steps from the place he had appeared in his son's, Efagti and Amadh, teleported in. They had stayed behind to contact their mother and the others, to tell them to come quickly. About ten seconds after they appeared behind him his wife and other children teleported in then Eshal teleported in. Each of them looked out at what was before them, they took in the sights then they turned and looked out at the upthrusts of mountainous rocks. Cheshire had explored them mountainous rocks once, they fell on both sides but, unlike the side that was facing him and his family, the other side slid down then smoothed out, became desert-like. He had seen tracks in the sand, not animal or human footprints but tracks from vehicles. ATV's had zoomed around the desert behind the mountainous rocks, humans had also ridden their recreation bikes in the area, having fun with the natural-made dare devils drivers course. Eshal walked by him and went to the front of the forest, she looked in then she walked back quickly.

"This area was searched before?" she asked.

"Yes, your father searched it thoroughly." Cheshire replied.

"The forest looks so overgrown, how can anyone get in there?" Eshal asked.

"By picking their path carefully, turning sideways at the right time and ducking low to avoid the branches." Cheshire said. "Someone who knows this area and who has been raised in this area."

"Do you think... Lhaklar," Eshal started to say.

"Could have been raised in this area, yes." Cheshire said. "But I doubt it, they'd be seen too many times and would have been known to us far before now."

Since Angel had said that they had been searching in the wrong areas up to recently in her call to Eshal on Exposure Hour, Tazir and Cheshire both agreed that she had meant Expedition Island as they had searched that area thoroughly once and it was the only area that they had searched besides where the payphone was in Albany, New York where the calls that Angel had made had been traced. Earth had had a difficult time after the year 2016, three plagues had struck, taking almost four billion lives, then the planet had been struck by a plethora of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and quakes. Japan had slammed into the European continent in 2069, had had become a part of that country in 2072 after several battles, one of which had sparked World War four. The lost city of Atlantis had been discovered, or parts of it anyway as the fabled city had been blasted to bits and thrown in five different locations. Animals had been discovered and described, animals had gone extinct and humanity had continued to grow in size. In 2134, the species had recovered from the plagues. It had gone up past seven billion persons, then three things had happened to drastically down the population. Hurricane Wilhem had struck the east coast, it had created over five trillion dollars in damage and had claimed over fifty million lives. Mount Shasta, Mount St. Helen's and Krakatoa had all erupted at the same time, their eruptions had sent clouds of ash and poisonous gas into the air and had claimed nearly a hundred million lives. The state of Florida had gone completely underwater following a tsunami that had been a hundred feet high, the death toll on that one couldn't be estimated although everyone living in Florida at the time had gone missing. The state of Hawaii had gone up in smoke following the complete eruption of Hawai'i Volcanoes Nation Park, all five hundred thousand persons living on the island of Hawaii had perished. San Francisco, Santa Cruz and San Mateo had all been destroyed when the quake of 2153 had struck, an estimated five hundred thousand to two million had died and an extreme form of Avian flu had struck the planet, taking billions with it as it ran its stretch of nearly six years.

The White and Black Rhino had been declared extinct before 2020, the Bengal Tiger, Sumantran Tiger and Malayan Tiger had all been hunted to extinction by 2034. So many fine animals had been hunted to extinction by humanity, so many beautiful animals. Humanity had made their movies on the animals, had made their movies on the natural disasters and had gotten rich. Michael Jackson, that fine musician that Cheshire and Amadh Ubalki both liked the music of, had died on June 20, 2009 after being given a sleep aid to help him sleep as he had been planning a final tour and had become very stressed over it, so much so that he couldn't sleep at nights. Steve Jobs, the guy who made the Apple computer, died on October 5, 2011 after having a relapse of a previously treated islet-cell neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer. That fine fellow who loved animals greatly, especially reptiles, Steven Irwin, had died on September the 4th, 2006 after getting impaled in the chest by a Stingrays tail spine, he had been doing a shoot for a program that his daughter, Bindi, was doing called Bindi the Jungle Girl. Shirley Temple, an actress that Homsi Modulavich and his wife, Abara, liked quite a lot had passed away peacefully on February the 10th, 2014. And Etta James, a musician that Eshal was particularly fond of, had died on January 20, 2012 of Leukemia, of which she had been diagnosed with having a year earlier. Humanity, at the moment, was only one billion strong, had yet to recover from the Avian flu, but they were still going and that was good enough to call them a Survivor Species in the eyes of the universe.

The bats that TazirVile had liked and had collected on the birthdays that Angel had surprised him by waking up earlier than he, making up one of his favorite breakfasts then delivering it to him then whisking him off to Earth to _experience the wonders of the bats_, as she had put it each time she took him to Earth. TazirVile had collected twenty Great Fruit-eating bats and forty of the Kitti's hog-nosed bat on the first time he was taken. He had bred and taken good care of them and now, they were right valuable due to being extinct on Earth. The Great Fruit-eating bat had gone extinct in 2090 and the Kitti's hog-nosed bat had gone extinct a hundred years later. Humanity had tried to save the Striped bat after it had been discovered but after fifty years it had gone extinct, TazirVile had been able to get ten of the species on the third birthday trip Angel had taken him on, he now had a colony of a hundred and they were extremely valuable.

TazirVile had also caught ten Egyptian Fruit bats, a species that at the time was listed as least concern on the ICUN list but went to critically endangered in 2089 and was thought to of gone extinct soon after. The last that TazirVile had heard, a huge colony of over a hundred thousand had been found in 2112 making the species go from extinct to the category called least concern. TazirVile hadn't just collected bats on his special birthday trips to Earth, he had also gone deep sea diving for fish collecting as well. He had collected ten of the Humpbacked turretfish on the first trip to Earth then on the second he had collected four Platypuses, having liked the appearance of the animals so much that he just couldn't leave without a few. Quite a lot had happened on the planet, plagues, natural disasters, discoveries then extinctions, it was a lot to keep up with.

"Hi daddy," Eshal said when her father teleported in.

"Hello Eshie." TazirVile said.

"You won your case?" Ashaklar asked her son.

"Have free rein, we can come and go as we please." her son replied.

"Where do we look first?" Amadh asked.

"We searched all of this island," TazirVile said. "we're headed across the river. Fan out and keep your eyes on the ground."

They teleported to the other side and began searching, they spread out far and covered quite a lot of ground before Amadh yelled. TazirVile, as quick as lightning, ran over. Amadh had found a blood trail which, when TazirVile took out his blood testing kit, a metal box that was two inches wide by two inches long that was used to tell the difference between sapient and animal blood, he quickly stabbed in the ground. The result came back saying that it was animal blood two minutes later, a deer had been injured by something. Efagti and Cheshire yelled next, they had found prints that looked as if someone had startled a trio of deer. TazirVile, Cheshire and Efagti all followed the prints until they stopped at the waters edge then they turned and went back to searching the rest of the area. Amadh had gotten pretty far by then, while they had resumed their searching the the area he had gone near the opposite upthrust of mountainous rocks. He had followed the blood trail, thinking that if he found where it went to he might find something. Two hours of searching had gotten them no where, TazirVile called a break and everyone sat in a clearing. Everyone but Amadh who was still following the trail of blood which, now almost half a mile from where he had first seen it, had gotten darker and thicker.

"Probably a bear, bear caught the deer and dragged it someplace to eat it without having to worry that its meal will be stolen." Amadh thought. "Probably a momma bear that made the kill."

Amadh remembered reading up on the animals of Earth one time one thousand, nine hundred years earlier. He had been fascinated with the animals and had asked Angel if she could point out the ones that were most well known. She had told him over the phone, they had been talking over the phone for three days about her birth planet's animals and he had enjoyed every second of it. He had learned a lot about her and she had learned a lot about him. She saw hunting as something that should be done only when it came to eating, such as making a kill to keep yourself alive. She wasn't much on hunting to collect trophies and he had agreed with her on that, so much was wasted not to mention the life of the animal as well. She had talked a lot about Grizzly bears and Black bears, two of the most dangerous predators of North American, and she had told him that the Puma, or Mountain Lion, was endangered because of habitat destruction, human encroachment and prey shortage. She said that Grizzly and Black bears had up to three or four cubs once every three to four years but, most of the time, it was either just one or two that reached adulthood. Mother bears had a lot to worry over, she had told him, besides humans they also had to worry about male bears, wolves or food shortages. Amadh stopped when he realized that he might be in danger, Angel had told him once that mother bears were highly dangerous. They were raving mad whenever anything that could harm their offspring was near them. He was just about to turn around when he heard a sound. A sort of low whistling sound, like someone whistling a low song. Amadh crouched low and stealthily crept forward.

"Amadh the explorer, that's me. I stalk the meak animals and the mighty beasts that roam the planets. I make my records, I take notes, I snaps photos like crazy. I have made hundreds of discoveries, have saved many animals from poachers and had a pet dog name Vluubom who comes with me on my exploration trips." he started thinking. "I am Amadh Ubalki, explorer extraordinaire. I've gone down raging rivers, crossed endless deserts, swam the deepest of oceans, climbed the highest mountains..."

And he went on and on with his thinking, the whistling got louder as he got closer to it. He was duck walked into an area that had tall, yellow grass growing all in it. As he got closer he heard something striking bone, a scraping sound then a sound of something being cut. Amadh slowly crept forward, pushing the stalks of the grass to the side slowly, doing all that he could to keep sound down. He was trying his best to keep quiet, to not make a sound, he was picking his feet up slowly and putting them down carefully. He made sure not to step on any rocks or kick or nudge any rocks or sticks as he walked, he was only just noticing that everything had gone quiet, that everything had gone still when he reached the end of the tall grass. He peered out and saw the back of a big man, the man was stooped over a big male deer, the horns had been cut off, they were lying nearby, and the man had made a cut down the chest going down the stomach. Amadh slowly pushed the stalks of the grass to the side to get a better look, the man didn't look normal. He didn't look like a normal human.

"Ma sera feliz esta noche, algo que nos mantendra durante unos cuantos dias," the man said, he had a strong voice, a deep voice that was very strong and powerful. "yo soy el heroe de hoy."

Amadh knew the language, it was said to be Spanish on the planet he was on but it was really called Dushoi. What the man had said was that he had caught something that would last for a few days and that he was the hero of his family that day. Amadh found that strange at first then he thought that, possibly, with the last plague which had blown through over a hundred and fifty years before, a lot of families had gone back to being hunter and gatherers. Amadh was right confused about the man's appearance, he saw the man's head but his shoulders looked much too high and big, he looked rather deformed. The man sounded young, he had a youthful sound to his voice which Amadh picked up on quickly. He figured that the man was possibly in his late teenage years, humanity wasn't immortal like the other beings in the universe, they hadn't achieved immorality yet. The man placed a big hunting knife down at his side then reached into the deer he had felled and began pulling out chunks of meat. Amadh pulled his head back in shock, humanity must have gone down not only in physical appearance after everything it had gone through these past one thousand, six hundred years but it had also gone down in standard. Typically, it was cut the meat from the bones and put it down in a clean spot. The man was tearing the meat off of the deer and tossing it down on the dirt like it wasn't nothing.

"Ahhhhmahhhhdh..." he heard distantly, the man in front of him stopped when the sound of his name being called caught his ears. "Ahhhmahhhdh..."

The man in front of him must have decided to disregard what he was hearing, he went back to harvesting the meat and organs. He pulled the intestines out, tossed them behind his back where they bounced off the ground before sliding to a stop four feet from him, he took the liver out and placed that to the side. The liver was the most important part to a predator, whenever a predator animal made a kill it went for the liver as it had quite a lot of proteins that helped a predator animal regain what it lost during the hunt. The man also removed the kidneys, the heart then the lungs, he placed all of them next to the liver then he went to getting the meat from the animal. The animals pelt had already been taken off, it lay with the side that had flesh on it still held open to the sun. Amadh was thinking this was right smart, it was hot out, a bit too hot for his liking as it was eighty-three degrees, but that heat was doing wonders in baking the flesh, hardening it so it wouldn't mess up the fur on the other side. The youngster seemed to know what he was doing, he had been trained well in how to hunt and what to take and what to no take from a kill. The flesh part of the pelt would have to be scraped away later on but that would be all, scraped and possibly have a layer of salt thrown on it to help dry it further. The man had just slammed a good chunk of meat to the ground beside him when Amadh's name was called again.

"Amadh!" he heard his father call quite loudly. "Where are you?"

It all happened in slow motion after his father had yelled out his name, the man pulled himself up straight then he slowly turned towards him. Amadh's jaw dropped when he saw what the man really looked like. He was tall, standing at six-foot, three inches, and had a good-sized body to him, he looked to weigh around two hundred and fifty pounds and none of that was fat, he had a good, strong body that looked strong in muscle. He had elongated ears that went only half the length of his shoulders that were dark green, they had light green Tiger-like stripes on them. The left side of his head was yellow while the right side of his head was green. When Amadh and the man locked eyes, Amadh saw that he had glowing yellow-green eyes with black pupils. The man was wearing a pair of pants that were dark brown and a torn brown shirt, he had brown boots on his feet. Lying nearby was a thin quality, light brown wool jacket. Amadh, not knowing he was doing it, walked out from the tall grass into full view of the man.

"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded to know.

"Ah-Amadh Ubalki,"

"If its my deer you're looking to steal you best turn around and leave." the man said. "There's plenty around here, leave mine be."

"I'm not looking for any deer," Amadh said. "I'm looking for a woman."

"Heh, aren't we all." the man chuckled. "The nearest town is ten miles away, bit sparse on females but you might find what you're looking for."

"Amadh!"

"Sounds like your clan is looking for you, best make ten and shove off." the man said.

"Bile?"

He had put everything together, he remembered well what Bile Vile, Angel Irene's firstborn, had looked like and the man in front of him looked very identical to him. The man looked at him for a long time then bent down and grabbed his hunting knife. He stood with the knife held firmly in his hand which sprouted long, dark yellow fingernails, his face bore a look of surprise and nervousness. When the man moved his right arm Amadh saw that the man's wrist was skeletal in form. Master Vile had inherited his skeletal genes from his mother, Irka, who was one of the Sketon people, Master Vile's whole right side was skeletal in form from shoulder on down to foot and was a dark blue color. Amadh remembered that Bile had inherited some of his father's skeletal genes, his whole right shoulder had been skeletal as had his right arm from the elbow on down to his wrist and he also had had skeletal knees. Amadh held his hands out, to show that he had nothing to harm the man that he thought was Bile Vile, then he walked around wide. The man, looking ready to spring at any hint of danger, followed him as he walked around.

"Who are you! How do you know my name!" Bile demanded to know.

"Amadh, don't you remember? You use to try to jump on me to wrestle me to the ground but..."

"You was too damn tall at the time for me to do so." Bile finished. "What're you doing here? What do you want?"

"I'm helping your father look..."

"Dark Dad? You best head your blue ass out of here," Bile snapped. "I want nothing to do with that crook."

"Tazir,"

"Who?"

"The guy that, whenever he walked by, you would grab the tail of his tuxedo jacket and..."

"Ooooooh, that guy. The one I tried to get to pull me around by the tail of his burgundy tuxedo jacket." Bile chuckled lowly. "Fun times, mush pop. Mush. Move along, lil doggy, move along."

"You remember well." the corners of Amadh's O-shaped mouth curved up in a smile.

"I'm not one of them overly forgetful freaks," Bile said. "I'm big, I'm not an oaf."

"Didn't say you was."

"Good,"

"Amadh!"

Amadh had gone in a half circle around Bile, when his father and Tazir walked out of the grass they saw nothing but Bile's back side and thought that he was DuruVile Surfeit and they addressed him as such. Bile turned around quickly, he faced the two and that gave Amadh his opportunity to rush forward. He had never expected for Bile, who was now two thousand, two hundred years old, to react in such a violent and fast fashion. Bile turned around just as Ashaklar, Eshal and Efagti walked out from the tall, yellow grass and swung his fist. Amadh saw stars at once and fell back on his rump on the ground. Cheshire, after seeing his son being hit by the man who he perceived as DuruVile Surfeit, rushed forward to defend him and got a nasty surprise. Bile turned around fast then grabbed the man by his throat. With one clear jerk up then a dip of his body low, Bile body slammed Cheshire to the ground hard. Tazir fired one energy strand at the man who had body slammed his stepfather, it struck Bile on his shoulder and made him twirl once before falling to one of his knees.

"I don't get you, father. You tell me that you're going to disown me then I find you searching on the planet that my wife was last seen?" TazirVile said as he helped Cheshire to his feet.

"Tazzy! That's not Duru, that's Bile!" Amadh exclaimed.

Bile got up to his feet, he looked at his kill then stomped his foot down. The deer and everything he had collected was flipped underneath the ground in a half second, Amadh had not a chance to wonder what had happened to the deer, his vision was still a bit blurred and he felt sleepy. Bile, as quick as grease lightning, took off running. Efagti and TazirVile gave chase, at first they gained on the young man then Bile put on a burst of speed and charged forward through the tall grass. They lost him soon after, they searched all around the area and even looked all over Expedition Island for Bile without finding so much as a trace of him. After two hours of searching they returned to their family. Cheshire had recovered, it had taken him thirty minutes as Bile had slammed him pretty hard to the ground, and Amadh was standing up, his vision had cleared but he still felt rather sleepy. Eshal was very excited, when she saw her father walk out of the tall grass she ran forward and hugged him tight. He returned her hug.

"That makes two," Eshal said. "two that we know that are still around."

"Angel said she had a feeling that Bile was going to be a big man," TazirVile said. "she was sure right on that. Big and strong."

"Almost as tall as his father, just an inch shorter than Vile is." Cheshire said.

"Any ribs broken?" TazirVile asked his stepfather.

"Think one or two is either cracked or bruised, kid is strong like you say." Cheshire replied. "I'll take care of my injuries when we get back to Zeta Ren."

"I suggest we stay here," Eshal said. "that way if he returns..."

"He won't return," Amadh said. "nothing for him to come back for."

"What about his jacket?"

Ashaklar had gone over and picked up the thin quality, light brown wool jacket from the ground when Bile had ran off. She had looked through the pockets and had found nothing but she figured that if Bile had left the jacket then he might well of want it back. Tazir walked over and took the jacket from her, he put it in a bag then nodded his head. He then teleported back to Zeta Ren, everyone teleported quickly. TazirVile had teleported to the investigation building where there were only two investigators working the phones. He called one over to get a sample from the jacket for testing to be sure that who had worn it was who everyone claimed he was. Eshal, Ashaklar and Cheshire all thought this strange, Cheshire, who had gone over to a chair and sat down, his ribs were now really starting to bother him, asked why he was getting the investigator to get a sample from the jacket when they all knew who it was that they had seen.

"For Vile who said at Brol that his son was dead. This is a rub in his face kind of thing." TazirVile said after being questioned. "Amadh, you okay? Looks about to get sick over there."

"Not sick, Bile has one of them punches that just takes everything out of you." Amadh replied. "I'll need a nap here soon."

"Suggest you do it now, then." TazirVile said. "I'm heading to Moas for my ship, after seeing Bile I'm willing to stick around on Earth for a little while."

"Vile going to allow that?" Efagti asked.

"Vile's not going to stand in my way, I have free rein to do as I wish in my searching on that planet." TazirVile replied. "That includes landing my ship there and living in my ship during my searching."

"Make room for eight extras," Cheshire said. "I and my family are coming with." when TazirVile looked over at him he crossed his right leg over his left. "We're with you every step of the way, son. Think we're gonna let you have all the fun in chasing down two boys and your wife? We're with you every step of the way in this, Bile's family to us as well. Same as Angel and Lhaklar."

"And Hazaar and Lazeer." Amadh added.

_Bile Vile, Discovered Alive_

_Up to recently the son of Vile Vile, known far and wide as Master Vile, who was born to Master Vile's daughter who he claimed through Family Law as his Family Mate was thought to be deceased but after the sighting the day before last he has been moved from deceased to being known as fully alive. Perhaps following in his famous great-grandfather's, DuruVile Surfeit's, footsteps of being discovered well after he had been thought long gone, Bile Vile was discovered near the location that TazirVile Surfeit searched last before being banned from the planet Earth by the planet's owner and ruler. After Angel Irene called Upegt Daque's show, Exposure Hour, to speak to her stepdaughter and adopted daughter, EshalVile Surfeit, TazirVile Surfeit swiftly went to Earth to do some further searching of the only area he had searched previously. Before he could get into the planet he and his stepfather, Cheshire Ubalki, were apprehended then escorted away from the planet by guards appointed by Master Vile to bar the two from the planet. After hours of attempting to get access to the planet, TazirVile took his nephew to the Elder Courts located on Brol. The decision was given swiftly through the judges that preside over the Courts, Prog Erusha, Furlaknor Murgiccon and Nuelo Wontwoon, that TazirVile Surfeit not only have rights to enter the planet to conduct his searching but also to do as he pleases on the planet. _

_TazirVile Surfeit and the Ubalki's, who have all been assisting him in his search for Angel Irene and her four son's, arrived on Earth soon after the decision was said that TazirVile Surfeit was to have free rein on the planet. Their arrival coincided, it does seem, with the young son of Master Vile conducting a hunt. Amadh Ubalki, the son of Cheshire Ubalki and Ashaklar Zoopray, was the one who discovered Bile. During his searching he happened on the young son of Vile Vile who was tending to matters of a deer he had felled during his hunt. The two had a conversation before TazirVile Surfeit and Cheshire Ubalki could walk up and see for themselves the young man. A small fight ensued then Bile Vile ran off, leaving just a thin quality, light brown wool jacket behind him which had his DNA on it to validate that the one that Amadh Ubalki, his father, Cheshire Ubalki and TazirVile Surfeit all saw was, indeed, the young son of Master Vile and Angel Irene._

_"He looked in great shape, very healthy and he has one heck of a punch to him." Amadh said when questioned on Bile Vile. Bile Vile was said to of punched Amadh Ubalki pretty hard, "I saw stars after he punched me and I had to head home for a nap afterwards. He punched me that hard."_

_"Bile is a tall, young man. He stood six-foot, three inches tall, looked to be about two hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds and yes, he is strong. He body slammed me so hard that four of my ribs cracked." Cheshire Ubalki said when he was asked about Bile Vile. _

_Bile Vile ran off after punching Amadh Ubalki and body slamming Cheshire Ubalki, TazirVile Surfeit says that the young man is pretty quick on his feet and acted like the strand of energy that he had thrown at him after he had attacked his stepfather was nothing new or nothing to worry about to him. Bile Vile's father, Master Vile, said when word reached him that his son had been sighted that he didn't believe it and that he'd not allow for his uncle to have ownership of his son's death certificate. Master Vile claims that what the Ubalki's and his uncle have spread by this new find is nothing but bologna, 'a bunch of lies', he said when he was questioned on his son being seen alive and well. TazirVile Surfeit still has his sights on the planet Earth and is saying that regardless of what his nephew claims and says on his son, he will still search and bring him and his mother home along with any siblings that were bore to Angel Irene in the years that she had been reported as missing. There is still no sighting of LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit or any further sightings of the unknown youth that ran off after Amadh Ubalki asked him if he was the one being talked about on the news with Bows, a magazine that is solely about hunting with a bow and arrow clutched firmly in his hand. _

Vile Vile, known far and wide as Master Vile, crumbled the article he had just read in his hand then burned it by making his fist become encircled with orange energy. He had found the article in his mailbox that morning, it had been clipped out of a newspaper from a different planet and had been put in an envelope that had no return address. He had thought it was just one of them letters, someone too scared to come forward to say their thoughts to him, someone that was spineless who wanted to tell him he was a fool or someone just wanting to give him a little praise. He had gotten several letters from admirers, all female, that had no return addresses on the envelopes, as always he'd read them then he'd burn them with his Energy Powers before heading off to the days activities. Due to his banning of any and all programs and newspaper articles that mention the search that his uncle was conducting and of his fake developments, he knew that the article had been placed in his mailbox by one of his family, his father perhaps or even more likely, his mother or grandmother.

It wasn't so much that he didn't care, because he did, it wasn't so much that he wasn't hurting inside because he still was, it had to deal with his uncle continuing a search that everyone had dropped out of and was letting others fool him into thinking that his search was soon to come to an end. He might not of spent as much time with Angel as his uncle had, he might not have gotten the love from her that he had wanted to get but he did love her. He had said after his uncle had taken her back to his place after Dione and her brood had invaded and had injured and killed several of his father's servants and had kidnapped that friend of his daughter's that she'd escape again. He had been looking forward to it, actually, just sitting back, waiting for his next chance to hold his head up and say _I told you so_. It had surprised him that Angel had settled down after being taken to his uncle's mansion on Moas. It had further surprised him that Angel had birthed two further son's by the man. His curse he had kept on her, fully intending to have her only birth his children after that ill-spore, Lhaklar, had been conceived and born but she had turned on the charm, had used her words and body on him, had gotten him excited, had seduced him to take the curse down. She had made him look like a fool when she had gotten pregnant again by his uncle. He had attended the birth of Hazaar, who had been said to be a full-on girl child but had turned out to be a boy. He had been going around his uncle's mansion on Moas boasting, saying that his uncle _might have gotten lucky the first time with the creation of a son but on his second he just went dry with the Y-chromosome_. He had bitten his foot after his great-grandfather had pointed it out that the baby that had been plopped on his daughter's chest wasn't a girl but a boy. _Gotten lucky on the first try then the luck went dry?_, his uncle had said after discovering that the newborn was a boy, _I don't think so, Nephew. It's a boy_. That had been hard for him, his pride had taken a good beating on that one. It was a hundred years later that he had gotten his revenge.

He had punished Angel hard for her deception, she had come to his place to try to get something straight between he and she, had tried to get the dust sweeped off of the shelves, the air cleared. He had let her in, had acted nice, had even taken her bag for her. His nice attitude had changed the second she had stepped foot in the chamber that he slept in. He had dropped her suitcase then had rushed at her. One grab, one twist of her body so she was facing him then one throw and that had been all it had needed for her to know she was in trouble. He had really taught her a lesson on that day, the don't cross daddy, don't make him a fool type of lesson. She had returned to his uncle after a week, pretty beaten up, pretty bruised and with plenty of bite marks on her body but still with that spirit and fire in her which he was glad he had left that intact. When she had turned out pregnant he had loudly called the child his, he had created that child and he had full plans to be involved in the upbringing. When his mother had said that Angel had coupled with Tazir the night she had returned to him he had stood stock still then he had said that he had done her for almost a week so the child in her was surely his. His mother had said she wasn't so sure and that he shouldn't be acting so sure as it just might not be. When his daughter had gone into a premature labor and had birthed her fourth child, another son but not by him, another son born to his uncle, he had been shocked then enraged. All that teaching had been for nothing, all that punishing for nothing, she had deceived him again by giving birth to yet another son by his uncle.

The anger towards his daughter had been turned onto other members of the family soon after Lazeer had been put in the NICU. They had asked if he had done any curses on Angel to end her pregnancy early, they had asked if he had done any curses on Lazeer to make him get sick and they had asked if he had done any curses to make the child survive for only a short while before perishing. He had been honest, he knew all sorts of curses, he knew all of the killing and premature curses and the curses for infertility but he had not put a single one on Angel or that newborn of hers. While Angel had been in the hospital, crying over the state of her newborn, he had been squabbling with his family. No, I have put no curses on that child, my daughter or my daughter's pregnancy. No, I am not the cause for her early birth. No, I am not the cause for that child being in the NICU. When his mother and father had kept up with their questioning he had gotten into his vehicle and had driven to their place, had barged in the door then had started roaring at the top of his lungs It's not me! I did not cause anything wrong in that pregnancy! I didn't do any curses, any spells, any charms on Angel during her pregnancy! A fight had ensued between he and his father soon after then he had been thrown out. Lazeer had been brought home after three weeks, had been said to have only a two day life expectancy out of the pod in the NICU. He had kept up to date on things, on how the kid was doing, how his daughter was doing and, above all, how his son was holding up.

Bile had been a spoiled rotten kid, he didn't need to be told that, all he needed to do was look at the kid to know that. Running around, being allowed to play in dirt and mud, being allowed to jump in the ocean with all of his clothes on, being loud and obnoxious. His uncle had spoiled that kid bad and Angel had done not a thing to prevent it. He had disciplined his son a few times, when he had talked back or hadn't behaved, and he had always ran off to his mother. He had tried to correct the spoiling by getting Angel to let Bile come over to his place a week every month and she and his uncle had said no, he had tried to talk to them on the spoiling but they wouldn't listen. _This is my son, you might have adopted him but he is my son,_ he had said over the phone one day, _he's not going to mature into a conqueror while being in his current state. He needs to be taught to be better, not be spoiled._ He had fully intended on having his son go to his educations, go to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, The Dark Academy, The Academy of Evil and so on and so forth but with his son being so spoiled rotten he just couldn't fathom sending him off to them schools. _Let him be a child, let him experience being a child before he is to grow up, _his daughter had said to him one day, how is being spoiled rotten being a child? After his son had reached five hundred years of age he had sort of given up hope that he was going to be as he wished he'd be. A conqueror, someone to be proud of. As he had seen it, his uncle had robbed him of his son, had robbed him of his wife and had robbed him of further children.

Angel had disappeared with his son when he had been six hundred years old, she had taken all of her son's with her and with that, he had been spurred to begin the search. He had half-heartily handed out Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer's photographs, had half-heartily done the broadcasts and radio interviews on Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer but he had gotten real down in the searching of his son and daughter though. He had never accepted Lhaklar, Hazaar or Lazeer as his grandchildren, never would actually. He had one grandchild now, a grandson who he was thoroughly proud of, he just couldn't see himself being proud of Lhaklar, Hazaar or Lazeer. They were his daughter's son's through his uncle, they had been wrongly conceived and born, his uncle had stolen her from him and had produced three son's from her while all he had from Angel was lies, deceit and one spoiled rotten son. Master Vile quickly read through the rest of his mail, he saw that he had several letters from family, his mother had written him as had his grandmother, a Bahne Brotzol had written him as well. He put the latter to the side, he barely knew the woman, she was related to him but he barely knew her the same as her husband who was his great-grandfather's uncle. Master Vile pulled out his letter opener from its case that had red velvet lining the inside then slit the top of the envelope that had his mother's address on it. He took the letter out then he sighed, he had expected to get a letter from his mother telling him about his siblings, how they were doing and all, what he got was another of them update letters on what his uncle was doing in his search. Master Vile read the letter half-heartily, taking it in and yet not taking it in.

_Dear Vile, _

_Bile was said to be seen on Earth by your uncle, he says that Bile looks healthy, has a healthy mind although he did need to be slightly reminded of a few things then he remembered right quickly after a detail or two had been said. He was thought to be Duru at first but then Tazir and his squad realized who he really was. He was on a hunt, can you imagine that? Two thousand, two hundred years old and hunting already? And on his own at that! He is way ahead of schedule, Baruk and Sudir haven't even been taught how to hunt, much less been allowed to handle hunting weapons. You really need to undo the ban on the planet, Viley, quit being stubborn and accept it that things are being found. Angel has been seen, she spoke to Eshal on Exposure Hour, she fully exposed who she was which means she is alive. Lhaklar has been seen, Bile has been seen, we still have no clue as to who that one youth is or if Hazaar is alive. We went on and told the kids who Angel was, who her son's are and that soon we'll be heading to Earth. We all want to see Bile and Lhaklar, and Angel as well. We have no idea what their powers are, Bile ran off after being zapped by an energy strand that your uncle sent at him. Cheshire was body slammed by your son, four of his ribs were cracked. Amadh had to head home for a nap after he was punched by Bile, Amadh says he saw stars, the punch was that great. We're wondering if you're going along with us or staying on Gamma-Vile. We are sure you'd want to see Bile and Angel, we known you miss them._

Of course he missed Angel and Bile! What father wouldn't miss their son or daughter? What father wouldn't want to know where his son or daughter were? Angel might had deceived him, she might have escaped several times, fought and injured him, ran around with that gray-haired man then had relations with his uncle but dammit he loved her. Bile might have been a spoiled rotten kid, he might have been a bit obnoxious and a bit disrespectful but dammit he was his son and he loved him as well regardless of how much he thought and still saw him as a disappointment. Master Vile put the letter from his mother to the side, he enjoyed hearing from his mother but he had no intention of heading to Earth for any ghost searching or time wasting. He had his older children, Rita and Rito, his son-in-law, Lord Zedd and his grandson, Thrax, coming over soon and he was looking forward to that. He and his son-in-law might not see eye-to-eye, he might not like Lord Zedd still but he did accept that the man was in his oldest daughter's life and that they had created together one fine son. Master Vile picked up the letter from his grandmother and opened it. It was the same thing as what his mother had written him, same asking for him to go to Earth with them, same drop your life to do the ghost search thing. He put that letter to the side then grabbed Bahne Brotzol's letter which, when he picked it up, he noticed that there was something inside other than a letter. He opened the envelope quickly then shook out the contents. To his surprise, there was no letter in the envelope, just a MemorDisc, a device made for containing the memorical taking of a being. The device was usually sent to people who were stubborn, which he was but he was for a damn good reason. A device sent to make a point. Master Vile sighed, looked up at the ceiling of his office then placed the device down on his desk. He pressed the button on the top then leaned back.

Master Vile's eyes bulged out of their sockets, the first thing that came up was the back side of a large man then the man stood and turned around. He looked directly at a man who was no man at all, not by alien standards anyway. He saw what Amadh had seen, he saw a young man standing up, standing at six-foot, three inches tall, who had elongated ears that were light green and had black, Tiger-like stripes on them and who had yellow-green glowing eyes with black pupils. The left side of young man's head and face was yellow, the right side was green and when the young man opened his mouth to speak Master Vile saw the tips of fangs, placed on both the top and lower jaws. The young man was wearing a pair of pants that were dark brown and a torn brown shirt which, on the torn areas, showed that his body was also colored like his head and face, the left side of his body was yellow and the right side was green, he had brown boots on his feet.

"Bile?" he heard Amadh say.

"Who are you!" the young man demanded to know. "How do you know my name!"

"Amadh, don't you remember? You use to try to jump on me to wrestle me to the ground but..."

"You was too damn tall at the time for me to do so." the young man finished. "What're you doing here? What do you want?"

"I'm helping your father look..."

"Dark Dad? You best head your blue ass out of here," Bile snapped. "I want nothing to do with that crook."

"Tazir,"

"Who?"

"The guy that, whenever he walked by, you would grab the tail of his tuxedo jacket and..."

"Ooooooh, that guy. The one I tried to get to pull me around by the tail of his burgundy tuxedo jacket." Bile chuckled lowly. "Fun times, mush pop. Mush. Move along, lil doggy, move along."

"You remember well."

"I'm not one of them overly forgetful freaks," Bile said. "I'm big, I'm not an oaf."

"Didn't say you was."

"Good,"

Before the memorical taking ended, Master Vile got a chance to see that the man who had said that his name was Bile was holding a large, hunting knife in his hand and that he had long, yellow fingernails on each finger. There was no way to look at the memorical taking again, it had just one play then it went dead, this left Master Vile confused. He stood up and walked around his office, thinking and wondering if what he had seen had been fabricated. He tried to think it up as fabricated, as faked up, but them his brain told him that the details of his son were just too damn exact and looked too real. Memorical takings, when fabricated, looked damn fake, looked roboticized in other words. The voices that he had heard would also seem not real if the memorical taking was fabricated, would be echoey and shaky. Master Vile sat down at his desk then looked over at the mirror in his office.

His office was as gothic as one could get it, the carpet was gray and black checkered, the walls were dark gray and so was the ceiling above. He had a black fainting couch in his office, a black pillow was placed at one end of it, and he had two dark gray chairs that had black onyx spiraling down the accent legs, the backs of these chairs had spikes on them. The desk he was seated at was dark red with black onyx designs on it, there was a MV on the front of the desk and also on the top in gold letters. There was a black lamp on his desk, two files for paper sat near the side, a calendar was in front of him underneath that mornings mail and beside that was his black case for his letter opener and knife and the vial that had black ink in it. His black and gray feathered quill was in its case just in front of the calendar. Two full black, glass tables were in the room, there was a black marble fireplace in his office as well which had a wild, red fire crackling in it. Torches were lit up all around the room, they had oil vases of bronze underneath them to catch the oil drippings. The mirror that he was looking at was large, went from ceiling to floor, and had a snake frame of dark gray going around it. Master Vile stood up, he saw his reflection fully in his mirror.

He dressed more freely in his house while outside he dressed more menacingly, he had to keep his image going. He wasn't called the feared conqueror of worlds, a warlock or a warlord for no reason after all, image was everything outside, inside you could dress as you wish. You could let yourself out, breathe a little, goof around. He preferred to be professional outside for another reason, besides his accumulated titles and his rank as a conqueror, he was also a bachelor. When Angel had disappeared she had left him a widower, he didn't want girls clambering all over him and driving him batty. He had someone, even if that someone was gone forever from this life. He had dressed himself in what he had wore three times at his father's residence after Angel had been caught in 1999. He was wearing a black silk robe that's front was slightly open so some of his chest could be seen, a black cape was attached to the back along with a hood which he just had on his outfit to make him look cool and he had put on black shoes on his feet that morning when he had woke up. On each of his elongated ears were hanging six earrings, all polished and shiny and he had two rings on his fingers, a silver skull ring with a gold cigar held in the mouth was on his right index finger while on his middle finger shown a ring that had an amethyst skull that was held between two silver skeletal hands. Around his waist was a very dark purple belt, pulled tight but not tight enough that he couldn't breathe. He had worn this outfit them three times when he had been at his father's residence, forced to live there by his father because his father had wanted everyone to get to know each other and become a real family, to get attention from Angel. He had been showing his body off, his vigor and strength had been oozing out all three times when he had worn the outfit near her and had she bat and eyelash? Said he looked good? Hell no, she had been too busy with his much more weaker uncle and that woman friend of hers and them Goblins that she was so in on protecting. Master Vile looked away from his reflection, he picked up the MemorDisc and crushed it in his big, strong hand then left his office. Just as he did his doorbell rang, Rita, Lord Zedd, their son, Thrax, and Rito had all just arrived at his palace and were waiting for the door to be opened so they could be let in.


	10. Chapter 10

"Take it real easy, Sudir." Irka said as she led her young son from her husband's ship.

"I feel sick, mom." SudirVile said, as if to confirm this he stopped and clamped his hands over his mouth.

"Don't think about it, you see that little clearing over there?" Irka pointed over to the trees where a picnic table was placed under.

"Yeah,"

"Go sit under them trees and calm yourself down." Irka gently pushed her son in that direction. "There's a trash can nearby, use it if you have to."

Space travel was difficult on the young, it made the young sick. BarukVile, KaasaVile and SudirVile had only experience in space travel when they had been sent off to their educations, all three had already enrolled and graduated from Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery, The Dark University and the School of Dark Arts, they were well on their way to become conquerors like their father but at the moment, each child was on break from their educational years. As Irka had always said to her husband, although it is good to keep a child on schedule with their learning too much can be harmful. They had let their children have a few hundred years of rest between graduating from one school before they sent them off to the next. Duru and his wife, Cyla, had done the same thing. None of them wanted their children to grow up too fast and from looks of it, all of the little ones were on schedule. Baruk, Kaasa, Gaahjah, Uevaa and Selik were all by the picnic table that she had sent her youngest son to, running nearby she saw that TrobrencusVile and Bahne's kids were there as well. Bohir was play fighting Phaggo while Fleebe was walking over to Kaasa and Uevaa. Before long the children had become groups, the girls had formed a group amongst themselves while the boys formed their own group.

DuruVile and Cyla stood nearby so she went to them, she saw that Cyla was constantly looking over her shoulder at the kids, keeping an eye on them was important as there was a forest nearby which could be hiding a predator and none of the children knew how to hunt. Baruk, Kaasa, Sudir, Gaajah, Uevaa and Selik all knew how to use their powers well, they were also very well knowing in their spells, charms and curses but when it came to an animal they'd not know a thing of what to do. They were still innocent little ones, looking up to their parents for guidance, support and love. Bohir and Fleebe acted the same way. Before Irka got to her in-law's she noticed that the boys had done a quick changing in their grouping. It was now two groups, the older, stronger boys were in one while the younger, weaker boys were in the second. Sudir and Selik stood side by side, looking plain green with sickness as did SyamsinVile Palus, TrobrencusVile and Bahne Surfeit's grandson, and Defe and Qhuakiz Ubalki.

"How did yours do on the trip here?" Irka asked her father-in-law.

"Selik got right ill on the way here, Uevaa got ill after we landed and so did Gaajah." DuruVile replied. "We're keeping an eye on them, how'd yours do?"

"Baruk and Kaasa did well until we landed, Kaasa could barely walk out of her chamber. Sudir, poor thing, he's looking about ready to curl outward." Irka replied, when TrobrencusVile and Bahne Surfeit walked up she turned to them. "How'd your kids do?"

"Lil travel sickness, nothing to worry over." TrobrencusVile replied.

"Syamsin got right ill, so did Impub and Varaxcan." Bahne elbowed her husband in the stomach hard. "Bohir and Fleebe did well."

"And the Ubalki's?" Irka asked.

"They were here long before us, looked to be doing well." TrobrencusVile replied. "Except for the younger ones, everyone was up and walking around."

"Qhuakiz and Defe?" Irka asked.

"I have no idea, just know I saw two right young kids lying down in the grass next to an older kid that was seated near the base of a tree." TrobrencusVile said. "Seems the best area over there for them to be in. Peaceful."

"Good place for them to goof around while we do our thing in searching around." DuruVile said.

Tazir had let them all join in on one condition, they stay out of the way and don't create havoc or try to traumatized anyone that they found. As soon as the word had come in that they could all come in and join with the searching they had packed then had boarded their ships. The children were all still a little confused, they had done all that they could to both make them comfortable on the way to Earth and had also told all that they could about Angel and her son's. Baruk remembered Bile and Lhaklar well, Baruk and Bile had been sort of constant foes when they had been younger, Irka remembered. If Bile did something extraordinary, Baruk had to show him up with something else or vice versa then when Gaajah had gotten older he had joined in on the foeship. Baruk had been particularly hard on Lhaklar, Irka remembered, he had jumped on the youngster several times to play fight and had scared the boy something awful. Gaajah and Baruk had once ganged up on him, trying to get him involved in a play fight, and Lhaklar had cried out for his mother in pure fear. Instead of his mother coming to his rescue, Bile had rushed in. Irka hoped that Baruk and Gaajah wouldn't cause any trouble, they surely didn't need any.

"Baruk sure has his daddy in him," Cyla said when she saw Baruk charge out at her oldest son from her second set of children by her husband. "big and strong!"

"Gaajah looks surefooted over there," Irka said when she saw Gaajah step out of the way then come around to facing her thirdborn son. "very loose and limber."

"Good genes in that lot there," KurukVile said as he walked up. "fine bunch of youngsters over there."

"Now just need Bile and Lhaklar in that lot for it to be complete." Bahne said. "Where is Tazir, by the way?"

Irka felt a trifle bit nervous in being left alone with the women and the children, the men had gone across the river to find TazirVile whose ship was on the opposite bank. She and Cyla both sat on a log and watched as the children played, or in the girls case just stood around and talked. Girls were different then boys, while the boys wrestled, play fought, walked around tough, saying that they could lift this thing and that thing the girls just stood by, talking and shaking their heads at the nonsense, as they saw it, that their brother's cousin's and nephew's were doing. Irka hadn't had a chance to experience this with Vile and Triskull, by the time Triskull had been born Vile had already become a man and had already been moved out of the house. Cyla was also new with this, she had had only one son before her husband had divorced her for the first time, she had had a lot to learn about with having multiple son's and really, so had her husband. Both Irka, Kuruk, Cyla and Duru had taken advice from Angel on that matter, since she had two son's that were a hundred years apart she had the experience in how raising multiple sons went and how sons acted around each other. Angel had seemed to be a natural mother, there when she needed to be, not there when things could be tended to by her sons on their own, really the only thing that both Irka and Cyla didn't much like on Angel's mothering was her breast-feeding her sons at way over their infant years. Angel had said that it helped in their development, in their bone and brain growth and development when really, both Irka and Cyla had thought, it wasn't. All it was doing was showing that she was too clingy to her sons and that they were too clingy with her.

Irka looked at her thirdborn son, Angel had joked around with her on a few occasions and had said that she really should have named him Kuruk Jr. instead. Although Irka had been miffed when Angel had said that, it was very evident now that her son did look quite a lot like his father. Baruk's elongated ears only went half the length of his shoulders, just like his daddy's but unlike his father his elongated ears were black and had red, Tiger-like stripes on them. The left side of his face and body was a blood red color, very dark red which, to one who wasn't looking hard enough would think was black, while the right side of his head and body was an imperial red color. He had long, imperial red fingernails on each of his fingers, same went for his toenails which he made sure to keep clipped short. His eyes really said it all, they really said that he was the son of KurukVile Shonsinu Surfeit. Both of her thirdborn son's eyes were a fiery red and both had small, black pupils in them. He had on a baggy pair of dark red pants that had chains and strips hanging from the waist and sides and a black shirt that had a bleeding skull on the front and black boots with buckles on the sides. He had a good sized body for one his age, very strong and already having quite a lot of muscle on it. He could bench press nearly two hundred pounds, that was quite a lot for one who was just two thousand, one hundred years old.

KaasaVile had been named by her, her husband had wanted to name her Koja or Kaja or something like that. Well, her husband had got the K-name but he hadn't been allowed to name their second daughter. She had named her Kaasa, after an aunt that had passed some five thousand years before that she had loved greatly. Kaasa was a pretty, young girl. She had long, dark auburn hair with cream strands mixed in for good measure and flavor, dazzlingly beautiful dark blue eyes and a teardrop-shaped face. Kaasa was wearing a purple dress, right long but not long enough to touch the ground, and purple slip on shoes. Her hair was down at the moment which made her look much more prettier. Irka and her husband forbid her to use make-up, she wasn't allowed to touch the stuff until she was older, at the moment she was just two thousand, fifty years old, still a young girl.

Sudir was her baby, she loved all of her son's dearly, same with her two daughter's, but with him being just one thousand, nine hundred and sixty-five years of age he was still very very young. He had inherited her skeletal body, but it was a milky-red color, and he had dark red eyes in his eye sockets. He had a lean body, he had immature muscle on him but one day he'd be a strong man. His head was the only thing that was bi-colored on him, the left side was red while the right was a golden color. He had no ears but he did have fangs on his upper jaw, that was funny because his brother had fangs on both his upper and lower jaw. Sudir was wearing a black shirt and pants, silver chains hung from around his waist as did ribbons and he had black boots that had dull black flames on the toes on his feet. Irka sighed, although she and her husband would love to have more children and they were working on having more, she was content at the moment though with just her three little ones.

"Find anything, son?" DuruVile asked when he found his son, who was crouched down looking at something in the dirt.

"A cigarette butt and a few pritns made from a size nine shoe." TazirVile replied without looking up.

"Been a while, look well."

"Haven't neglected myself any,"

"That's good, found anything these past four days?"

"First two days after Bile was seen, no, days after we've found prints in this area and cigarette butts galor." TazirVile replied. "And ends of joints, someone been coming here the past two days to light up."

"How many have you found?" DuruVile asked.

"Two yesterday, this is my first find today." TazirVile held up the end of a black cigarette that had a white line around where the celloluse acetate was. "These are only found in one country on this planet, the Netherlands, very hard to get here."

"Rare cigarette?" DuruVile bent down and looked at the cigarette butt. "Any DNA on it?"

"That's why I'm wearing gloves," TazirVile said, he placed the cigarette butt in a plastic bag then stood up. "Bile is one of the smokers. One of the joint ends we found had his DNA on it."

"Like father, like son." DuruVile chuckled lightly.

"There was very little of the contents left over, had that tested as well. He was smoking the high-grade stuff. Enough to send a man falling back into one of them I'm there but I'm not there states." TazirVile said.

"You sure you saw Bile four days ago?"

"I saw Bile, as did my mother, Amadh, Efagti, Eshal and Cheshire." TazirVile replied. "No doubt about it, the DNA on his jacket was his, spot on match."

"Where is his jacket? Use it to bring him out."

"Amadh was watching that jacket like crazy yesterday, had it hung up on a branch." TazirVile said.

"And,"

"He went off to use the bathroom and Bile took advantage. Jacket was gone when Amadh came back."

TazirVile went back to his camp, he had asked for all ships to be on the side of the river away from Expedition Island and from what he was seeing across the river he didn't like. He saw his father's ship, his brother's ship and his grandfather's ship all standing on the island. Although they hadn't seen Bile in the four days after they had seen him, they knew he was coming back into the area. The jacket having been taken, for one and the cigarette butts and marijuana joint ends for two just said it. Either Bile was curious or was just passing through territory that he thought was his, territory that his mother, perhaps, had marked as theirs to do as they wished. Hunt, smoke, swim, fish, the area looked like the appropriate area to raise a child. He had seen a few predators, two bears and a pack of wolves but mostly, he had seen wild game. Deer, moose, Pronghorn Antelope and plenty of fish and birds. TazirVile went to his ship, a large ship called the KiSku which could house up to a hundred persons. It was immense, was gold and black in color and was shaped like a kite, it stood up on end and had an alien skull in the center akin to his likeness only with a forked tongue coming out from the open mouth. The inside of his ship had purple rugs in it, in all of the rooms he had put purple carpet in, and the walls throughout his ship were light brown. He had real bats pegged up on the walls inside his ship, he had made sure that their wings were stretched out to their utmost length and their mouths were open, forever in scream-mode as if saying to the one who walked by to watch what you touch. TazirVile handed the plastic bag with the cigarette butt in it to Homsi, told him to get it tested right away then he turned to talk further with his father. As with the ship being brought over to Earth, he had gotten twenty of his most loyal Goblins to head over as well, same as ten Goblin maids.

"You need to move your ship." TazirVile said. "All on this side, leave the island ship-free."

"We only landed there to for the kids," DuruVile said. "all of the kids are on the island."

"They'll be safe there, only seen one bear there and that was three days ago." TazirVile said. "Mother has hers over there as well, she says its a good nesting area. Birds must agree with her, there's bird nests galor on that island."

"Bet she's happy about that, stay over on the island looking after the kids and look at the birds." DuruVile rolled his eyes, seeing his ex-wife and her family was the last thing he wanted to do that day.

"She's searching over here with us," TazirVile said, he had an evil glint in his large, oval shiny silver eyes.

"I'll move my ship now," DuruVile teleported quickly, TazirVile saw him telling Kuruk and their grandfather that they were to move their ships to the opposite side of the river. TazirVile ran his hand up over his head, took a swig of water from his water bottle then went back to looking for whatever he could find in the area.

Ashaklar looked up with utter dread, the planet had shook pretty violently and the waters in the river that flowed by her and her family had gotten hotter, so hot that it had started to boil, steam had risen up off of the waters in the river and fish had been cooked alive when her ex-husband and the rest of the Surfeit clan had arrived. She was sure that by their non-quiet arrival that they had scared away Bile, if he was in the area that was. They're arrival had scared the dickens out of the animals, deer had raced off, moose had bellowed and charged in different directions and the Pronghorn Antelope had bolted from their safety in the tall grasses. She saw her ex-husband's ship first, it was an ugly sort of ship to her. Shaped like the head of a bat with its mouth open, the teeth were jutting down and looked not only sharp but menacing. The windows of her ex-husband's ship were set to look like imitation bat's eyes only they were dark red, they looked out from the cockpit. Her ex-husband's ship was mostly dark gray and black in color, except for the windows and the teeth, which were white. Ashaklar shook her head in despair, she had made plans to stay as far away from her ex-husband and that wife of his and was going to stick to them.

Her ex-husband's most favorite son's ship was big, much bigger than his father's in fact. It was a big, metallic silver thing. A large, silver coil was around a skull that was as white as an eggshell that had two black, soulless eyes. The mouth on the skull was closed but the teeth were very viewable and they were painted the most ugly, yucky green and yellow she had ever seen. They were painted to look rotten and they sure looked that! The canine teeth on the top row of teeth sparkled with gold dust, the hatchway she could see. It was built into the mouth of the skull. The skull was hooked up to the coil by four strong, sturdy and thick dark gray bars. How anyone could drive in such a ship was beyond her, the coil was surely to get in the way and make driving dangerous. The ship, to her, looked like a death metal trap.

Shaam's ship was the only ship that belonged to the Surfeit clan. It was a basic ship, had no designs or symbols on it and it was long. It was a mile in length and was a nice, shiny black. Shaam's ship was shaped as a pear. Ashaklar liked the basic ships better than the more elaborate ships, they were easier to drive and were much more appealing to the eyes of the viewer. Shaam was really the only one of the Surfeit clan that she liked, he was very easy to get along with and was nice. He did tell things as they should be told, he didn't beat around the bush with anything and he was one for there being peace in the family. If it hadn't of been for him, Angel would have probably never of had hazaar or Lazeer. Before Shaam landed his ship six very sturdy steel arms lowered from the bottom, they held the weight of the ship well when it touched the ground. A dark gray ramp was lowered from the ship soon after it landed. Before Ashaklar could even look at TrobrencusVile's ugly, cane-shaped ship she saw Master Vile's ship head in. At first it looked as if he was going to land on the island then it lifted off again and headed towards her side of the bank.

Kalach Speelin walked into the room that they had set up as the chamber to test everything that was brought in. Due to Losal being a bit of a science freak, he was the one doing the testing along with Eldass and Zshon, the latter who was also one for science. Homsi had brought in a cigarette butt just two minutes before, he was in the room as well. They had all been in the room when the joint end had been tested and Bile's DNA had been found on it and all were rather angered that the youngster was smoking at his age. The young man's lungs were not yet full developed, it would be another three thousand years before he'd be able to smoke anything safely. Homsi was off in a chair, the Goblin had been the one who had shouted out what when Losal had announced that Bile's DNA had been discovered on the joint end, he looked tense and there was reason for this. If Bile was, indeed, smoking then possibly he had given off his bad habit at such a young age over to his younger brother. They hoped that that was not true, for both Bile and Lhaklar's sakes along with the unknown youth as well.

Homsi hadn't become Master Tazir's most trust Goblin for no reason, he had worked very hard for that title. Before him, it had been just Eldass who had been TazirVile Surfeit's most trust and most confided in Goblin but now, Master Tazir had two Goblins to confide in. Homsi sat with one of his legs crossed over the other, his face tense and his eyes bright with both worry and curiousness. Homsi was one who liked the classic Earth films, he liked all genres as long as they were the classics from around the 1950's on back but he also like a few of the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's films as well. Once a month before Mistress Angel had disappeared he'd head to Earth to snatch a DVD from one of the video stores, really all of them had done it but Homsi had done it more than everyone else. Homsi was wearing a brown tuxedo with a brown vest over a white shirt, brown tie and he had brown shoes on his feet. He stood four-foot, six inches tall and had large, blue eyes. Although his head was bald he made up for it in his ears, he had sparse, stringy, light brown hair jutting out from his ears.

"Thought I'd give the warning, Vile showed up." Kalach said.

"Joy, I can see Bile running now." Eldass sighed in annoyance. "From what Amadh said, he not only called his father Dark Dad but also a crook."

"Won't be here for long, probably here to give a warning or something." Homsi said. "He has to put his words on everything, remember."

Eldass Zultoa was the longest employed by their employer, he had actually come from the first batch of Goblins that had been hired. He so trusted Master Tazir in his employship that he had asked the man to employ three of his son's and one of his daughter's in his staff which, Kalach had been surprised in finding out, Master Tazir had done. Eldass was said to be an elderly Goblin but in reality, he wasn't. He was like the rest of them, he was forever, immortal. Really, the only thing that gave him the appearance of being elderly was his hair, his hair had been dull red the first few thousand years he had worked for Master Tazir, he had dyed it white some thousands of years ago for his wife, Aboshi, who just adored it, and its fluffiness. The man had a lot of wrinkles on his face, his eyes were blue and his skin was light blue in color. His nose was rather long, he had large nostrils. He was wearing a white tuxedo and shoes. Eldass, like Homsi, was one for the classics as well but he preferred no cussing or anything to do with sex in his movies. He usually went down to Earth once every two or three months before Mistress Angel had disappeared to snatch a few DVDs from one of the video stores, like Homsi he hadn't done it in a quite a long while. Unlike he and Homsi, Eldass Zultoa lived in his own house two miles away from Master Tazir's mansion.

"Anything on the testing yet?" Kalach asked Losal.

"Nothing yet, still testing this thing." Losal Khrelan replied.

Losal Khrelan had worked for Master Tazir for only four years before he had been employed, he was a tall Goblin, standing at five foot exact, and was pretty strong. Curiously though, he preferred working inside the mansion over working outside of it. The man looked very young, not old enough to be working young. He had green skin, there were a few warts on his face and he had a thin, but long, nose. His brown hair was scraggly but he managed to comb it to the side every day. He looked funny wearing goggles and blue surgical gloves, the two items really didn't match his plum-colored tuxedo. Losal was more free with his movies, he liked all types but he seemed more in liking the science fiction and action/adventure films most. He had a wife at home and three kids, two of which were boys and both of which were also science freaks. Although Losal was more free with his movies, he was strict on his music choices. He liked music that fine blues and country music made on Earth in the 1940's and 1950's, Mistress Angel, when she had found that out, had directed him towards the albums that had been made by a company called Chess Records who had made records for Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Little Richard, Howlin' Wolf and Etta James, to name only a few. Mistress Angel had also picked out her most trusted Goblins, surprising enough, Losal, Zshon and he had been three in her chosing, as had Homsi, Eldass and Zshon, to name only a few.

"Got something, Zshon?" Eldass asked his son who was beside him and who had just turned away with a turkey baster that had a blue liquid in it.

"I'll tell you in a minute, papa." Zshon replied, he then began working feverishly.

Zshon had been one of Eldass' son's who Master Tazir had hired after being carefully directed in his direction. Zshon was a hard-working Goblin, he had proved to be the right choice in Goblin to hire. Despite his short stature of four-foot, nine inches tall, he was one strong guy and had a fierce drive to protect those in his service as he had with Mistress Angel when she had been living in KurukVile Surfeit's residence for nearly a month. Zshon had experience in boxing and wrestling, he had both both while enrolled in both Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and Staffer's Academy and he had used both to his advantage in protecting her. Zshon was also one who liked the Earthlings science fiction films but, unlike Losal, he watched just plain that genre and nothing else. He liked music from the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's quite a lot. Zshon was a green-skinned Goblin that's nose was rather large, there were large warts on his face and his eyes were a bright yellow. He was wearing just a pair of blue surgical gloves, his brown tuxedo jacket was over on the coat rack. He was wearing a white shirt and brown pants, he had a thick, red wrap around his waist and brown shoes on his feet. Zshon carefully added the blue liquid to a square box in small amounts, when the turkey baster was empty he put it to the side them stepped away.

"It'll be a few-..."

"Homsi, I need you to be over on Expedition Island." TazirVile came through over the communicator that was on Homsi's belt. "watch the kids for a few minutes."

"Right away, Master Tazir." Homsi said, he got up from his chair then teleported with a yellow, lightning-like effect to the place his employer had asked him to go to.

"I'll make sure to tell him what the results say when they come in." Zshon said after Homsi had gone off to do what his employer had ordered him to do. "It'll be a few more seconds."

"Think you got anything?" Eldass asked his son.

"I got something, the liquid wouldn't have turned blue unless DNA was present."

Homsi looked out at the kids that were either standing under the trees or running around acting like lunatics. He remembered Baruk and Gaajah well. They had been constant bullies to Lhaklar, joining up to gang up on him, chase after him, trying to get him dirty of plain trying to get him into trouble. Baruk had once struck him over the back with a large stick in a game of cops and robbers, Lhaklar hadn't been playing with them, he had simply been sitting down, reading a book. When the stick had hit him he had fallen forward then had started crying. Although KurukVile hadn't been much worried over the event he and Master Tazir and Mistress Angel sure had been. As Mistress Angel had so clearly put it, Baruk could have seriously injured her son. Sticks were known to put ones eye out, break skin and give off nasty infections. Gaajah had once pushed Lhaklar into the deep end of his father's pool, luckily Lhaklar was as great a swimmer as his mother or else he'd of drowned. Even though he could swim well, he had still tattled and Gaajah had gotten into trouble. Bile had stuck up for his brother many times, getting in between he and Baruk and Gaajah, telling Baruk and Gaajah to scram, pick on someone your own size, leave my brother be, things like that. Baruk had had an air around himself then, an air of thinking so high of himself, of thinking he was everything that his father was. He had picked up rocks that were heavy, had picked up logs, had rolled logs over and had snapped saplings in two along with also tearing up the garden in back of Master Tazir's mansion at one time which had thoroughly pissing his employer off. Bile had stayed out of his stepfather's garden, knowing full well the consequences if he had so much as yanked a carrot or a head of lettuce up out of the ground before it was ready to be picked. He had showed up Baruk and Gaajah plenty of times though, while Baruk or Gaajah had struggled to throw a log, Bile had picked it up with ease, while Baruk or Gaajah had struggled in picking up a large rock to throw it, Bile had done so with ease. Bile had stayed away from the saplings as well, most of the saplings on Master Tazir's property were apple, orange or banana trees and he had known that. Even though he was one who liked to be dirty, playing in the mud, throwing mud balls or just acting boyish, he had still shown considerable respect while Baruk and Gaajah had not.

The groups had changed slightly, the younger boys had gone off and had made their own group where they were more in their league with their games, the girls were still all together though. Baruk and Gaajah looked as if they had taken it upon themselves to be the leaders, the leaders of the packs, the dominant males. They were running around, pushing and shoving the other boys, getting all up in the other boys' faces, grabbing sticks and slamming them to the ground, breaking sticks over their knees like they were nothing, which the sticks weren't. The sticks that they were breaking were mere twigs. Homsi yelled at Baruk when he ran over to the group that consisted of the younger boys, he yelled for Baruk to not be rough with the younger boys which Baruk waved his hand at. Baruk pushed Qhuakiz Ubalki over then he flicked ImpubVile, TrobrencusVile's young son who was only seven hundred and thirty-four years old, on the nose. Homsi got up and started going towards the disorderly, out-of-line youngster. He had gotten only half way there when Baruk grabbed Qhuakiz Ubalki by the seat of his pants, Baruk yanked Qhuakiz up, who was shrieking in not only pain but terror, then he threw him to the side hard. Homsi broke into a run just as the glowing, yellow-green eyes that looked out from the tall bushes nearby squinted in anger.


	11. Part 2

As he looked out at the spectacle in front of him he could help but feel a deep rotting anger swell up within himself. A Goblin, standing about four foot, six inches tall, having brown skin and hair growing out from his ears, was trying to get the one who looked his age to leave the two younger boys, one of whom looked no more than three hundred years of age, alone. The short Goblin was giving his best, he had taken his brown tuxedo jacket off and was flailing it around, trying to ward the youngster who meant harm to the two boys alone but the guy didn't seem to want to listen. He ran around the Goblin, pushed the one that looked three hundred years of age down to his rear on the grass then ran off to do the same with the other youngster who looked around six hundred years old. The kid who was assaulting the younger kids he knew, he knew well who the guy was and to him, he didn't seem at all changed in the years between his leaving with his mother and brother's and now. Like he had said to that Amadh Ubalki guy, he was big but he was no oaf

He smiled greedily with the memory that had happened four days before, the guy had rushed at him, had tried to take him captive and he had taught him a good lesson, Bile-Style. The guy had rushed at him, thinking that he had him cornered, and he had reeled around then socked it home. He had been damn proud of himself with that little teaching, having to body slam the older guy who he remembered but couldn't yet remember the name of had shocked him though. He hadn't expected for him to rush in then... when he had been struck in the shoulder by the very guy who had raised him he had felt an inner hurt then had felt a vulnerableness sweep over him. He had saved his deer, had made the ground flip so it would appear in the cellar of the apartment he and his brother's lived in with their mother then he had taken flight. His mother had asked what his problem was when he had returned, he couldn't keep much from her, she was his mother after all and she had that intuition thing of hers. She knew when something was up with either him or one of his brother's, she had that nose and could smell something that was either troubling them or something that they had done and were trying to keep it secret. He had simply said that he had encountered a bear, his dear mama had given him the look, the _oh really Bile? You've been trained so efficiently, you're so big in size for your age and so strong for your age and you got scared off by a bear?_ before she had asked if that was really what he had encountered. He had quickly changed his story a bit, _oh it wasn't just one ol' ordinary bear, maaamaaa, it was this big, biiiiiig bear. Bigger than a car stood end up, three times as big as me and it was a mama bear too. She had two cubs with her, you know how them mama bears are, ma. They're protective of them cubs, they're downright mean when they have their cubs around, ma._

That had bought him some time for, oh about a day. He had thought and wondered about what his father had been doing all the years he had been away from home, he had wondered what he was doing on Earth and why Amadh had said that he was looking for... well he had cut him off on that so he didn't really know what they had been looking for but anyways, he had gone to bed on his cot, had slept good then he had been woken up by his own mother bear. Dear mama had obviously sniffed out what had actually happened, his dear mama who he loved so dearly that words could not describe it had read an article in a newspaper from some planet that had him mentioned in it and it had freaked her out. She had grabbed a dish towel and had slapped him good and proper with it. He had rolled off of his cot, had ran around the small two bedroom apartment that he and his brother's lived with mama chasing after him. He had begged for her to stop as he had ran then he had stopped, had turned around then had got down on his knees, had grabbed her hands and had pleaded insanity, he had spilled it all out then had said he had gotten scared, that big, strong Biley had had fear creep up and engulf him after being fired upon by a little energy strand that his father had cast at him after he had body slammed that one guy and he had ran off which, normally, he'd just shrug off and think nothing of.

His begging had paid off, his pleading insanity had paid off. His ma had stood over him, listening then she had sighed. She had said for him to not ever, putting quite a lot of emphasis on the ever, do something so foolish as let himself be seen again unless she told him it was alright to do so. He knew his ma worried about him, the same as his brother's, she worried he'd go off and do something stupid such as wrestle a bear and get critically injured, arm wrestle the wrong guy, hunt during bad weather and break a leg or worse, his back, or be struck by some vehicle as he walked the sides of the road coming home from wherever he went from 9am to 6pm. He was able to keep some things from his ma, his smoking of the good stuff, the weed from the humans in town for example. His flirting with the local ladies in town, or worse, his picking up and enjoying the company of a lady in her apartment once a month. He knew his ma would flip on that latter one and was doing his best to be careful and keeping it on a down-low. His little begging session with his mama hadn't fallen on deaf ears, that whole morning he had had to deal with Biley got in trouble and had to beg his way out of it, Biley got dish toweled again, Biley just loves being whapped by that dish towel. He had taken off after 9am to get some peace of mind, having his ma whup him with a dish towel was one thing, having to beg and plead then explain himself was embarrassing, having his brother's tease him about it had been plain torturesome. He had taken off at 9am, had gotten to his favorite hunting grounds by 10am then had settled in for just watching what was going on in the camp down below. For three days he had just gone to see what was going on in the camp, hearing names which clicked home for him in his memory banks and, of course, waiting for the moment to go retrieve his jacket.

His jacket, his ma had been plumb mad on that one. _You went and lost your jacket of which you didn't even need to have with you,_ she had yelled at him while whapping him with the dish towel, _that cost $25, Bile! You just went and lost $25 that we could use! That your baby brother could use to get his glass! _Ouchie wawa, his jacket had slipped him by. He hadn't even bothered with worrying over it, he had just left it behind him. He had explained that in his panic over being struck by his father's strand of energy he had plumb forgotten about it, in his fear he had had a lapse of memory and had forgotten all about his jacket. When he had retrieved his jacket he had been relieved, no more Bile wasted $25, no more Bile gave away money that his baby brother could use. He had returned with his jacket, and with some money he had carefully slipped out of an unsuspecting woman's pocketbook, he had given the money to his mother, had said he was sorry then had sat down at the kitchen table. He had waited for the next lecture, he had gotten himself ready for another embarrassing moment that his brother's would hear in on as they had all been in the next room. Instead, his mother had pocketed the money then had walked over and had given him a hug. She had apologized for the dish towel whipping two days before then had given him a cupcake, one she had just gotten through getting out of the oven. His ma did know how to cook well, like everything else she was just one of them women who was a great mama. He was grateful to have such a woman as she as his ma and his love for her had swelled so high at that moment that he couldn't help but to stand and grab her in a hug then do his usual thing that he did when he was wanting comfort. He had nuzzled his head up against hers gently, the ritual was to start it slow and gentle, if ma returned it it meant you could nuzzle a little more harder but if she didn't return it then you was to stop right then and there or else, she'd push you off and say for you to go off some place. Luckily for him, she had reciprocated his comfort wanting, she had nuzzled her head up against his. After a few seconds he had sat down and had enjoyed his cupcake, his love for the woman baking further cupcakes and a batch of cookies that had smelled oh so great growing more by the second.

"Go on!" he heard the Goblin yelling at Baruk. "Go on, Baruk! Leave Qhuakiz and Impub alone. They are too young and little for you to play with, go on n-... hey!"

Baruk had now turned on the Goblin, he ran over and knocked the Goblin over then he kicked him in the side before running off. Bile growled deeply with madness, here was an adult trying to get a mean ass kid to behave and that kid was not listening. Baruk saw it as a game, here's the little guys, the vulnerable guys, I'll pick on them and leave the big, strong guys my age alone. Bile had lunged forward twice and had been pulled back both times, he hadn't of done this on his own accord, sometimes his anger got the best of him, robbed him of his senses. His brother was knelt down by him, his hand was around his wrist, keeping him in place. Lhaklar had discovered what he had been doing, he had followed him that morning and had seen the camp. Lhaklar was smart, Lhaklar was powerful and Lhaklar thought he was his damn daddy. He hated that part, Lhaklar was his brother, his hundred year younger brother, his little brother, he wasn't his daddy. Lhaklar was strong as well, maybe not as strong as he but pretty strong in his own right. When his brother had discovered him and his little secret he had said he was going to squeal it all out to ma. Instead of hunkering down, playing chicken, he had come back with the _oh yeah, what do you think she's going to say on you being here as well?_ which had shut his brother right up. He and Lhaklar got into trouble quite a lot, strange as his brother was one who liked to stay on ma's good side. He and Lhaklar had crouched low in the tall grass, looking out at the camp and had remembered together. When the other ships had come in they had teleported to the island, the place where they sometimes just sat and smoked his cigarettes or he produced a joint or two. His brother had smoked two of his Black Devils, imports that he had asked a man in town to get him from Netherland and he had smoked one joint then had lit another. They had passed the second joint back and forth, sharing it like brother's should. Like he, Lhaklar would be in a quite a lot of trouble if ma found out about his smoking habit and about his also fooling with the ladies in town. Lhaklar had a silver case that he carried with him always, he had saved up for it through his dancing, which ma would be mortified if she had found that little piece of information out, and had bought the case for a little under $100. He kept six cigarettes in it at a time, sometimes he shared them, other times he didn't. Bile wasn't too keen on the taste of them Black Devil cigarettes, bit too much flavor for him. Hazaar liked them a lot though, Lazeer always made a face when he smoked them but he never handed his back so he guessed that he made the face to plain throw them off.

"Cool it, Bile!" Lhaklar whispered into his ear. "Mom would be furious if you got into any brawls or got caught."

"He is beating up an adult!" Bile whispered back fiercely.

"He'll have control of the situation soon." Lhaklar said, he then pointed out, "See, he's got his belt off. He'll scare the kid off now."

Homsi was shocked that Baruk had not listened to him, he had yelled out for the young man to run off, to go play with others his own age and leave the little kids alone who were hiding behind him crying in terror and yet the youngster just wasn't listening. Baruk might have stopped his roughing of the kids, he might have left the kids be for now but he had turned on him. He saw pure play on the youngsters face, the kid was getting a real kick out of running and hitting him. He had picked himself off of the ground three times already, his ribs were hurting from being kicked by the youngster but they weren't hurting him enough to wave the white flag of surrender. If he had shown any sign of weakness Baruk would have walked all over him, probably would have hurt him badly come to think of it, not to mention he'd start it up again with the little kids that he was trying to protect. Homsi, who had two son's of his own and knew that when a boy needed a good belt across the rear or leg to get them in line, whipped his brown belt off from around his waist then whipped it out. Baruk ran wide, yelled out in surprise then looked at him with bewildered eyes. Them eyes started out looking innocent then they got that fire that his father had in his. Before he could charge out Gaajah ran up. As if Baruk wasn't enough, now Homsi had to protect the two kids behind him from Gaajah as well. Homsi swung his belt twice, caught Gaajah in the rear once which sent the kid running off howling in surprise then he turned in time to see Baruk running at him. He swung his belt and caught the kid in the leg, high up on the thigh. Baruk slid to a stop, shook his head furiously, rolled his shoulders then charged forward again. Homsi saw the sky as he went sailing up then he heard Qhuakiz scream out in terror then cry out in pain.

"You're a servant!" GaajahVile exclaimed, he kicked him in the ribs hard which made him roll over once. "You're not suppose to discipline us! Our dad's do that! Our mom's do that! You do not!"

Homsi grabbed his belt which had been flung from his hand when he had been struck by Baruk and swung it back, Gaajah screamed out in pain then ran off with his hand held over his arm. He ran off a short ways then turned around. Homsi quickly got to his feet then ran over to Qhuakiz, who had been punched in the face then thrown hard to the ground. Impub had ran and climbed up a tree, he was safe, for now. Gaajah ran up and joined ranks with Baruk, they circled the Goblin who was now standing over the still crying in terror boy. Homsi brandished his belt, he showed it out and he flicked it out at whichever of the two bullies came close to him and Qhuakiz. He had just swung his belt, intending to catch Baruk flat on his back when it was ripped out of his hand. Gaajah had been waiting, when he had seen the belt flying out he had ran forward and had grabbed it. Now sans his belt, which Gaajah now had and was rolling it in his hands in a sort of sick fascination, Homsi was very vulnerable. He had his pocketknife in his pocket but he didn't want to use it, that was only to use in case of an emergency. Although this was dangerous, he didn't dare want to use it against one of the kids. He had been told to watch the kids, not hurt them. Qhuakiz reached up and wrapped his arms around his waist, Homsi reached down and patted the kid on the shoulder then he pushed him back, behind him. It was then that he was attacked. Baruk charged in and sent him sailing, when he collided with the ground he coughed up blood. He had not a chance to get up as both Gaajah and Baruk ran in. Gaajah grabbed him by his arms and yanked him up, he held him as Baruk walked forward. He had his belt in his hands and was not brandishing it at him. Qhuakiz screamed out something which got Baruk's attention, Baruk turned and went towards him. He only got but so close before he was flattened to his back in the grass.

"You like beating up on ones shorter and younger than yourself?" Homsi and Gaajah looked to the right then dropped their jaws. There stood Bile, looking dead serious and furious and standing directly behind him was a youngster that looked very much like Lhaklar. "Why don't you two blokes pick on someone your own size and strength and leave the kids be?"

"I see one right in front of me." Baruk got up fast and charged at Bile who coiled back then sprang like a Tiger.

Kuruk hadn't expected his oldest son to show up, he had expected fro Vile to stay on Gamma-Vile and continue his stubborness but here he was, still the same although he was acting in a proud sense with the youngster that he had brought along with him. KurukVile had seen Thrax only three times in the youngsters young life, once when he had been born, once again on his five hundredth birthday and again on his six hundredth birthday. Rita, despite having a son, looked non-different, same for Lord Zedd who was the father of the child. Rito looked and acted the same, much to his great chagrin. Master Vile had started to land his ship on Expedition Island then, when he had seen everyone moving their ships heh ad changed his decision and had landed on their side of the river. His ship, the SkullTerra, was still the same. It was shaped as a gigantic skull with its mouth open in a hideous scream, there were large fangs on both sets of teeth in the skulls mouth that dropped down, a split tongue was inside the mouth of the skull, it was beet red. There were two windows right where the eyes were in the skull, they were dark red and looked out from the cockpit. SkullTerra had been fastened in his son's image, somewhat, the ship had his elongated ears complete with earrings hanging down from them on either side of the skull. When his son had landed his ship he had pressed the button for the ramp, which was the split tongue, to roll down and out from the mouth, the pharynx acted as the hatchway. Thrax had been carried out by his grandfather, the nine hundred and one year old child had succumbed to space sickness and was having a time in keeping control of himself. Vile had refused to have his daughter and son-in-law take little Thrax over to where the other kids were at, he stood and spoke with his grandson held in his arms.

"Well shake my tail and call me Hairy, what is it that brings my son and his family to this fine planet?" KurukVile said when his son walked up.

"Hi granddad," Rita said, she gave a sweet, innocent smile then looked over at her son who groaned sickly.

"Hello Rita," KurukVile said. "Rito, you look well."

"Feel well," Rito replied.

"Lord Zedd, you and my granddaughter have one fine-looking child there. Looks very healthy." KurukVile said.

"Thrax is a son I am proud to have made." Lord Zedd said, he then turned to his wife. "Of course I have my wife here and her lovely looks and genes to thank for him. A father is only half."

"Have you found anything on this ghost search of yours?"

KurukVile looked at his oldest grandchild, Rita was sixteen thousand, one hundred and fifty-two years old but she definitely didn't look it. She had an air of youth around her and in her step as well. She had a pretty, lightly tanned face that was covered in heavy make-up. She had purple lipstick on her lips, purple eyeshadow on her eyelids and black eyeliner around her eyes as well as mascara on her eyelashes. Her hair was a light shiny gray and was held up by orange ribbons in two twin cones, her hair being held up in that fashion made her look like she had horns. She was wearing a brown dress with gold embroidery around the lower arms and skirt, she had on a flexible armor-like Madonna cone bra which was bronze in color, it was connected to the dark brown neck frill that had light gold triangular designs on it, blue feathers poked out all around the frill. Rita's hair was being held out of her face by a black band that had gold swirls on it, a ruby was in the middle, running down from the band was a light gray braided outer face adornment. She had long, purple colored fingernails, brown eyes, she had inherited her nose shape from her father.

Bahne Brotzol had once made the mistake in asking Irka, his beloved wife, if Rito was her son and in truth, it was an honest mistake and a good observation as Rito did look quite a lot like her. Unlike his wife, who was very feminine in build, Rito was very masculine. He had a full skeletal body, not an once of flesh was on him. He had inherited his bi-colored body from his father, the full right side of his body from head to foot was white while his other half was camouflaged. He had been born with a helmet on his head which matched his body colors. His teeth were slightly rotted, he had no eyes. He had a belt around his waist from which small skulls hung from, green bands were around his wrists. Rito was strong but he was dumb, this was his downfall for KurukVile. Although KurukVile loved his grandson with all of his heart he did wish that he had some brains in him and wasn't so dumb. He was five thousand, one hundred and two years old.

His son had done all that he could to get Lord Zedd to leave Rita, even going as far as to make up a lie that she had been flirting with another man or seen with another man which was preposterous. Lord Zedd loved Rita greatly, he had shouted it out several times and had gotten into a physical fight with Vile on two occasions to prove this. When Rita had gotten pregnant with Thrax his son had backed down. Lord Zedd was obnoxious at times, but he meant good by the ones that he loved. Kuruk's grandson-in-law was a red, muscular, being who did not wear clothing, he had chrome all over his body, there was clear tubing running from the chrome on his chest down his arms and legs and he had a chrome face, his brain was out in the open. He carried a silver chrome staff that had a Z on the end.

"My brother did find something, DNA was found of your son on a joint end." KurukVile said.

"Is that so," Master Vile gently handed his grandson over to Lord Zedd. "who makes up this stuff? I'm curious, who is that made up the story of the joint end and Bile's DNA being found on it?"

"That's what he said he found, we're a bit upset over Bile smoking at his young age." Irka said as she walked up. "Tazir's testing some cigarette butts now, Bile took his jacket."

"My ghost son ran up and took his jacket, how nice." Master Vile laughed.

"Amadh was watching the jacket when he got the urge to urinate. He went off to do so, when he got back the jacket was gone." Efagti said, he was three feet away.

"Quite possible then that it wasn't my ghost son who ran off with the jacket. Another human or an animal." Master Vile said.

Irka took Rita and Thrax to the side so the men could talk, she asked if Rita wanted to take her son over to Expedition Island where all the other children were at and Rita surprised her by saying yes. When the ships had been moved she and the women had decided to go with to see what had all been found and since her oldest son had shown up she had figured she'd best be over with her husband just in case something came up between the two. Vile and her husband didn't much get along, Vile had been disowned for conquering Gamma-Vile, the planet that had been both his and his family's birth planet for hundreds of generations which was said to be off-limits by family agreement and law, almost seventeen thousand years ago. Kuruk had tried to get his son to understand his reason for the disowning him, he had tried to make it up to Vile but with every attempt he was shunned. Her son had also conquered their birth galaxy, M-51, soon after his disowning, a most disagreeable act in their eyes. His relationship with Vile was never to be the same again, she feared. Irka looked down at her grandson, Thrax would be a very fine man when he grew up but right now he was just a boy. He had inherited most of his physical appearance from his father, he had a red body that at nine hundred and one years of age had not an ounce of muscle on it. He had chrome on his shoulders, chest and lower arms and a portion of his face had chrome on it as well. There were torn, orange ribbons on his horns that turned down then curved up gently at the ends, his jawbone resembled hers although it was masculine in appearance and he had a spinal column sticking out from his back just like she did. His left cheek on up past his eye was humanoid in appearance, he had inherited that from his mother, and he had one brown eyes, the other was a dark red flier. Irka, Rita and Thrax, still a bit ill from his space travel sickness, teleported to Expedition Island then gasped out in shock.

"Baruk! Gaajah!" Irka screamed, she then ran forward. "Get off of my son!"

Irka grabbed the big man, that was the same height as her son but slightly less muscular, by his shoulders and tried to get him up off of her son who he was swinging his fists down upon like crazy. She pulled hard then felt herself being flung away, she landed on her back then rolled over. As she got to her feet she screamed for her husband and father-in-law, she saw that there was an athletically built male fighting Gaajah, although Gaajah was fighting him hard it seemed that the youngster couldn't get a grip on the man. Rita screamed in her screechy way and quite possibly, that was what attracted everyone on the other side of the river to teleport over. Cyla, Duru, Trobrencus and Shaam appeared with her husband, Vile, Triskull, Dara Dara, Cheshire and Tazir appearing next. Ashaklar, Efagti, Eshal and Amadh appeared on the island just as the man and Baruk noticed them. The man turned his head, momentarily forgetting his opponent then howled out. Baruk managed to take advantage of the distraction by kicking his knee up, with the man on his side, his hand clamped firmly between his legs, Baruk jumped on him and began beating him up. He gave off five good punches before he was ripped off of Bile but it wasn't his father who had grabbed him by the back of his shirt, it had been Lhaklar who had ran over to rescue his brother.

DuruVile ran forward just as the green-skinned man began fighting both his son and his grandson, Baruk's face was bloody, he looked as if he had been in a nasty fight and his son was also bleeding. He saw that Gaajah had a three-inch gash on his cheek, his arm was cut in three places and he had a small cut above his eye, Baruk had cuts all over his face. There was one that went over his left eye, both of his cheeks were cut and bleeding, his lower lip was busted wide open and his forehead had a four-inch gash in it, he also had a five-inch gash on the top of his head. When DuruVile reached the green-skinned man, who had grabbed Baruk by his throat and had kicked Gaajah in the stomach, he heaved him up by his pants then threw him to the side where he bounced once then rolled over to his side. The green-skinned man crawled over to the bigger man who grabbed his arm. The big man swung the green-skinned man behind him, DuruVile quickly escorted his son and grandson over behind the adults then turned towards the two men who had attacked the youngsters. He was seething mad, here was two mature men who had attacked the children who, despite being strong and had quick movements, couldn't keep up with the mature men. Here were two men who had taken advantage of a bunch of kids, who had bullied and beaten his son and grandson not to mention the fear that they had probably clouded on the other kids who were all peeking out from behind the adults behind him. DuruVile charged up a lightning bolt, a red one to show that he meant business, then he threw it. The big man, despite having Baruk kick his knee up into his crotch, leaped up, grabbed the red lightning bolt. DuruVile cast three more as the man leaped up into the air and began spinning, just as his two white lightning strands and black lightning ball hit the man they were sent back, DuruVile put up a shield to repel the red, black and white lightning shards that had come right dead at him and the ones behind him. Before he could send out another attack Homsi ran up. He forgot about the big man, who was down on one knee, breathing slightly heavily but still acting as if he had a lot more to give, and turned on the Goblin.

"You were ordered to watch the kids!" DuruVile snapped at the Goblin.

"I was..."

"You was not! We come over here to see them two men creating trouble for the kids! Look at Baruk and Gaajah you idiot! They're cut and bleeding badly! They could have been seriously hurt by this grown men!"

"Homsi, I'm surprised at you." TazirVile said. "I gave you an order, watch the kids. Where were you when them two began assaulting the kids?"

"I was watching the kids, Baruk and Gaajah began bullying Qhuakiz and Impub. I was doing my best to get them to leave the two kids alone but they wouldn't listen. They kept bullying..." Homsi started to say in a calm yet annoyed way.

"I don't believe my baby brother beat up a little kid." Master Vile said.

"It twoo!" Qhuakiz cried, he grabbed his father's hand and pulled on it. "It twooo daddy! He punt me, deh beeg kid punt me in deh feece daddy!"

"Look at Qhuakiz's face!" Ashaklar screamed, her young son's face was bruised and swollen, he had twin trails of blood coming out from his nostrils. "Cheshire! Look at Qhuakiz's face!"

"Baruk ran up to us and started pushing us around dad," ImpubVile said, he pulled on his father's arm. "he and Gaajah ran up and started hitting, pushing and throwing us around. Homsi was trying to help us, they turned on him too."

KurukVile had gone back to look at his son, he had been concerned at first then, when he found out what had happened he glared down at his son who recoiled back in fear. He bent down and said in his son's ear that he was going to get a good lesson after the two men had been sent off. DuruVile yelled back that his son was in a lot of trouble. Both Irka and Cyla shook their heads miserably at their two son's, they had both been furious at the two men who had attacked their son's but not they were directing that and their great disgust and disappointed towards Gaajah and Baruk. After a quick check, Impub was found to be fine, very shaken and scared but fine, Qhuakiz would be needing some medication on his face to take care of the bruising, cuts and some good spoiling to calm him down, he was scared to death. With the two children looked at, their injuries noted and the two children that had been the bullies told that they were in trouble, the adults all turned to the two men that were ten feet away. Both had stood up during the checking, which had taken no more than two minutes, both had cuts and bruises on their faces, the athletically built man had a long cut on his left arm. DuruVile turned and glared at the two men, he grabbed a rock and threw it then he ducked low. The big man had jumped and had tornado kicked the rock back then had sent ten more following. This pissed him off.

"Go on! Get out of here child beaters!" DuruVile yelled. He shot out a flame of gold at the two men, the athletically built man grabbed his flaming strand, twirled then sent it back.

"Who are these two?" Rita asked. "That one man in the back looks like you, daddy."

"That's because he is related." Homsi said. "He's Young Master Bile, the youngster standing beside him is... Master Tazir's son. Young Master Lhaklar."

"What!" everyone gasped in shock, Rita, Rito and Master Vile gawked out at the two who had just been identified.


	12. Chapter 12

He was given little time, very little time to get moving but there was one big thing that was keeping him from turning about and high-tailing it out of the area. His brother was planted firmly, his gaze was locked on one of the people in front of them and that was the one who looked like him. Bile was like a rock when he locked onto someone that he either didn't like or a girl that he had a mind to ask if she was single or wanting a little steamy action. At the moment, it was the former of why he was locked onto the man, both he and Bile had been told about the man. He was Bile's daddy, he was also their mother's father which made Bile a child of incest. The man's name was Vile Vile but he liked to be called Master Vile, he had a tendency to be mean. Lhaklar looked out at everyone of the adults that were lined up in front of him and his brother, all had done harm to his mama at one time before and after his birth. There was his grandfather, DuruVile Surfeit, who had tortured his dear ma in order to get her to respect him and his wife. There was his uncle, KurukVile Surfeit, who had joined up with his son to "discipline" his ma for her constant escaping and want to be free. There was that... Zombie guy who had used his cane against his ma a few times. And there was the man himself who had claimed his ma in the right of something called Family Law, the man who had forced his ma to drop her life for him, the man who had raped her time and again and who had forced her to have a pregnancy she did not want to have. Lhaklar felt most anger towards him, his mom had taken both he and Bile to the side one day, the day before Bile had gone off to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic when he had turned one thousand, one hundred years old, and she had told them both everything.

Master Vile had come to Earth with a mission to take his daughter who had been born, raised and had lived all of her life on the planet away. He had caught her the first time by tricking her to come out of her cave by using her friends as bait then he had caught her after a fight. He had used his whip on her, he had changed her into a five-year old after the third time she had escaped him to force her to respect him which had backfired. Vile Vile had then taken her as his Family Mate, he raped her after he and his father, KurukVile Surfeit, had beaten her and tortured her to shout it out who she was and for her action of kidnapping Dara DaraVile Surfeit and injuring TriskullVile Surfeit. Ma had gotten pregnant after that raping then had gone to a planet in the Wycos Galaxy called Deocomos for an abortion, afterwards she had been caught and force to have relations with her father which had resulted in a pregnancy and child that she had not wanted to have but, after surviving in the cold desert in Egypt for almost two weeks, keeping herself and her unborn son alive by hunting for food then after having her son and holding him she had accepted her duty as being a mother. TazirVile Surfeit had caught wind of her before she had gotten pregnant with his brother, he had caught her several times but had let her go before capturing her and keeping her captive, during one of these capturings he had coupled with her and they had conceived a son together. After that son had been born the man who was his grandfather had said that he'd not only not accept him but he didn't want his momma to be around him and he had tried to take her away.

This was all deep stuff, bad stuff, the stuff that authors wrote about in their fiction stories and sadly, this was their story. This was how their first hundred years had been like, this was how things had been when they had been mere babies. Granddad Vile had shunned him then he had tried to get rid of his son, saying that he had plans for him and their mama to have a better son together. Granddad Vile had hurt their momma something awful several times and granddad Vile had succeeded in killing their momma by thrusting his hand, with his fingernails held out, into their ma's belly then ripping it up then out. Lhaklar felt an anger especially directed at the man who had fathered their mom, and who had raped his daughter after claiming her as his and who had fathered her only son by him, but at the moment he had to keep control of himself. He was the one who typically did keep better control of himself, Bile had a way to fly off the handle at things, Hazaar was especially snappish whenever he was in a situation and Lazeer was too deep on himself and his eye problem to keep himself centered correctly.

"Bile..." Lhaklar said lowly, he pulled his brother's arm hard and made him go one step back. "come on. Let's get out of here."

"That's my father. The man who hurt mom... who..."

"Yes, Brother. That is he. Come on, we gotta get out of here."

"Dark Dad..."

"Yes, Brother." Lhaklar pulled on his brother's arm again.

"I want to throttle him!"

"Mom's already going to throttle us, don't dig your grave deeper!" Lhaklar said fiercely. "Look at our faces! Our clothes! Mom's going to freak!"

Lhaklar looked out at the man who denied him as his grandson, the man looked just like his brother and that was a damn shame because Lhaklar loved his big bro like crazy. It was too bad that the man who had created his big bro, how had made the process start with his seed, was so hated by him. Master Vile stood six-foot, five inches tall, he looked dangerous and deadly. His elongated ears were gold, they had black, Tiger-like stripes on them and they went the length of his shoulders which were big and powerful looking. His face was bi-colored, just like his brother's. The left side of his head was gold while the right side of his face was dark blue, he had glowing golden-yellow eyes that looked out from a pair of blue-tinted glasses. He had long, dark blue fingernails on each finger. He was wearing a long black robe and a black cape which was attached to a pair of shoulder wraps that were dark blue in color, on both sides of the shoulder wraps edges near his chin was a snake head, the right one was dark blue while the left one was gold. The snakeheads were not a simple part of his outfit, they were alive. Both snakeheads were gently nudging up against his chin, one would slightly nip in affection every few seconds. There was a blue scarf around his neck and two kerchiefs of thick fabric hung below them, one was a dull red and the other was a dull gold in color. He had a dull gold breast-plate on that had small, circular areas that were aqua colored, there was a gold chain mail hanging down from the plate, from it hung a thin gold chain. A white tassel hung down across from the thin gold chain, it was tied off on the end with a red string, beside it hung a fiery red tassel, the very sight of this tassel filled Lhaklar with anger. He knew what that tassel was, his mother had told him that her father had cut off her hair then had handed it over to his mother, that skeletal woman in back, who had made everyone a tassel from it. He wanted to tear that tassel off but he reframed from doing so. His grandfather, who wouldn't accept him for who he was, his daughter's son and his grandson, had a pair of black pants on underneath his robe and had black shoes, which were very shined up, on his feet. He wore a pair of gold-colored gloves on his hands that went back to his elbows, his long blue fingernails poked out of the holes at the end of each finger of the gloves. Lhaklar had managed to get his brother going back four more feet before the man who had fathered him walked forward.

"L-Lhaklar?" TazirVile said in shock.

Standing behind Bile, he could barely see his son so he slowly walked around Bile to get a better look. Lhaklar, when he saw him, turned and faced him fully, Tazir could not be prouder to have Lhaklar as his son. He looked in fine shape, very athletically built, had good muscle on his arms, legs and chest and his face looked like his. Had it not of been for him having mint-green skin, and Pistachio colored, large oval eyes he would look almost like his twin. Here stood his firstborn son, fully alive and in the flesh, he was a little beat up, had a few cuts to his face and arms, but he looked in fine shape. He had exchanged that silly brown and green checkered, long-sleeved, button-down shirt with a brown and green striped, long-sleeved, button-down shirt that looked good on him. Tazir noticed that his firstborn wasn't wearing any goggled glasses, the sun was out, it was blasting down its rays on them and yet, here stood his son who was acting like the rays of the sun were nothing to him. It looked like his firstborn did not have the ailment of the eyes like he did and he felt grateful for that. Seeing his son in the flesh, not in a photograph or a video, made him feel as if the world had slowed up. One thousand, six hundred years of searching had come to this. Had come to finally finding his firstborn son, alive and well in the flesh.

"Look at you, look very healthy my son." TazirVile said to his son. "Your mom's been tending you well."

It could have been the word mom that got his brother moving but it also could have been a slight move by Tazir that had gotten him to move as well. Either or, he got moving and fast. He was caught, his brother was caught, they had been seen and thus, their mama would know then they would be in deep trouble. Bile turned on a dime and ran right into Lhaklar, flattened him to his back then ran off. Lhaklar, still on his back, leaped into the air then twirled twice sideways before putting his lower body down on the ground. He took off in pursuit of his older brother who had already gotten to the river and was crossing it. Bile was fast, he had made a record in running track while he had been enrolled at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. The old record had been 2:06:54, Bile had reset it by blasting the track apart and setting the record at now, 1:48:12. He was fast as well but damn, his legs did get in the way sometimes, he had yet to get them figured out, get them untangled. By the time he reached the river Bile was already standing on the other side, just before he could cross the river a ribbon of white water rose up, trapping him on Expedition Island with the adults who his mother would be pissed if she knew he had been near them when she had told him and Bile to stay away from them. Lhaklar didn't looked back to see who it had been that had put up the ribbon of white water, barring him from entering the river to get away. He ran right for the nearest tree and began climbing, he leaped high and grabbed the first branch then swung his legs up. It was all leap, grab then swing your legs up to hook onto the next branch after that. By the time he had reached the top of the tree only a minute had passed. When he looked down, he saw that the tree he had just climbed up was surrounded by the people that his mother didn't want him near.

"Tazzy, give me your jacket." Ashaklar said with grave concern clouding her voice.

"Still a tree climber, son?" TazirVile yelled up the tree, he took his jacket off and handed it to his mother. "Gotten faster with his climbing, it seems."

"Be careful, he might be injured." Ashaklar cautioned her son.

"Highly doubt it, if he could climb up a tree that fast he can't be but so injured." DuruVile said.

"Bile plowed right into him, flattened him to his back and ran over him." Ashaklar said. "Not to mention he was in a fight. He is injured."

"Go get your son, Tazir." DuruVile sighed.

Tazir had not expected for Bile to react the way he had. All he had done was put his hand on his arm to calm him down and that had sparked a violent reaction which could well of harmed his son. He had rushed forward when Lhaklar had been trampled but before he could get to him his son had kicked himself up then had rolled in mid-air to the side before running off. Bile was one fast youngster, before he could put up the white water ribbon to bar the two boys from entering the water Bile had already gotten into the river and had swam halfway across to the other side. Tazir climbed up the tree carefully, being slow so not to scare his son. It took him a few minutes but when he reached the top branch which his son was on his son was already looking around for a way to escape. He got on the branch slowly, held his hands out then carefully began chosing his words. Although he saw recognition in his son's eyes he also saw something else. Fear and the want to get away. Tazir slowly made his way towards his son, who backed away on the branch.

"Son, you cannot go any further now." TazirVile said. "The branch won't hold your weight, come on over to me. I've been looking for you and your ma and Bile for a long time now."

"Go away."

He couldn't go back like the man who had created him with his seed had said, the branch was thinning. He couldn't go down the tree, there were people underneath him, surrounding the tree who looked as if they were a pack of wolves. They looked, to him, as if they were waiting for the prey animal to fall or give up the fight and this pissed him off. Lhaklar looked across the river, Bile was no where in sight, he had been halfway across the river when he had gotten trapped, he felt betrayed by his brother. His older brother had flattened him to his back in his charge to get away and had left him behind. He had left the predators the weak animal, Lhaklar was thinking. Lhaklar looked at his father then shot his fist out, he punched out two fire fists and a blue air swipe which his father leaped to avoid. His father, obviously, had been the one who he had gotten most of his limberness from. He father had knelt down, his rear had almost touched the branch, then he had propelled himself up like a cricket then had touched down gracefully, there was no off-balance or wobbling in his legs, he landed surely. Lhaklar leaped over to the nearest branch which was five feet away, his father leaped over in pursuit which made him go for another branch. He landed hard on this branch, one of his feet slipped and he fell onto his stomach. A gust of air came out of his mouth just as his father leaped over to the branch he had just fallen on. Seeing things as they were, he having half of his wind knocked out of him and his predator on the branch with him and no other branches to jump to or any strength to jump to another branch, Lhaklar swung around then released the branch he was on. He wished he hadn't after he landed on the branch two feet down, he landed where no young man wants to land and it just about knocked almost all of the will to escape and the rest of his wind out of his system.

"Oooooh! That poor kid!" Cheshire made a face.

"Find the only kid of yours that's survived and he happens to knock out the jems. That's outrageous!" Master Vile laughed loudly.

His crotch throbbed and hurt him but his feelings hurt the most, just hearing the man who was his grandfather but who wouldn't claim him as such saying that his little brother's were dead hurt him so greatly that he pushed himself up. He managed to stand up, shakily, then he felt a pair of hands land on his back. His footing slipped as he turned around and he near fell down again but his father grabbed his by his shoulders and kept him up on the branch. Lhaklar stared into the eyes that looked so like his own but were a shiny silver color instead of Pistachio for only a second then he looked down. His father had his hand on his arm, keeping him close. It seemed that the world had stopped moving for him, his fear gripped him and froze him and his responses. Was this man who had fathered him and who had raised him for five hundred years still a good man? Was this man who was his father going to hurt him? Lhaklar got no answer to these questions, his father maneuvered him carefully and was just telling him to jump down from the tree, which he wasn't about to do, his father or not he didn't trust him, he didn't know him anymore, the same went for the people down at the base of the tree, when the ground by the base of the tree erupted up. Bile rose up on a tornado of dirt, twirled twice then flung his arms out. Lhaklar flew away from the man who had helped to create him with his seed, the man went to the right while he went to the left. He crashed hard into the river, swallowed a few mouthfuls of nasty tasting water then popped his head up. His brother leaped from his tornado of dirt into the river, swam over to him then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. The next thing he knew was that he was on the opposite bank from his father... and the opposite bank from where he and his brother should be on because this side of the bank would not get them home.

"Lhaklar?" his brother shook his shoulder, he was lying face down on the rocky shoreline, still experiencing the pain of having his gems smashed after falling badly on a branch in the tree on the island. "You okay? I got over to the shore and you wasn't with me, I panicked! I thought you was behind me, Lhaklar!"

He had swam over to the other side of the shoreline, had shook himself off then had gone two steps before turning around. His little brother, who could be a pest sometimes with his acting like his daddy, had been no where in sight. He had ran up and down the shoreline, yelling out his brother's name for about five minutes then he had seen him up in the tree. He had panicked, had leaped up into the air then dipped his body down while twirling madly. He knew he had flattened and possibly even injured several in his attempt to save his little brother and he felt bad for that but... Lhaklar was his brother, his little brother, he could just run off without him. He had thought that that man who looked like Lhaklar's father, and who he knew was his brother's father, had captured his brother and that was why he had reacted the way he had. His lower legs were cut pretty badly now, he could feel his blood oozing out of the gashes but he didn't feel any pain though. His brother was lying down, face nearly touching the rocks of the shoreline, with his legs spread with his hands clamped tightly on his crotch. Bile shook his brother once more then jumped out of the way, Lhaklar had sat upright then had swung his fist back at him.

"You left me behind!" Lhaklar shouted. "You left me behind for the predators to pick up!"

"I didn't mean to," Bile moped. "I'm sorry, what happened to you? Why are you-..."

"Why the hell do you care," Lhaklar turned back around then leaned down.

"Did they hurt you?" Bile asked tenderly, worriedly. "Did they, Lhakie?"

"No, dammit! A friggin' branch busted my biscuits to pieces!"

Bile pulled back, a man's sack was sacred but damn if it wasn't fragile! A woman could be kicked down there and be able to walk within a minute or two while a man would be down for a while. One day when he and Hazaar had been jumping on the bed that was in his and Lazeer's room he had landed on his back while Hazaar had landed, elbow down, on his crotch. Hazaar had gotten a good left hook from him and had gone squealing for mama while he had just rolled over. A man's pride was tested, thoroughly, when the jewels were mashed, punched, elbowed or worse, kicked. It took a lot for a man to not get up and chase the ball-offending punk down for a pounding. Bile quickly went to the water's edge, he shot his fist at the water then raised his fist up. An ice-cube rose up out of the water which he elbowed and made break into six pieces. He gave each to Lhaklar who shoved them inside his pants, he mumbled out his thanks then dropped to his side and curled up like an infant. Bile sat down and waited, a fist in the balls was bad, a foot in the balls was worse but dammit, falling down on a branch was much, much worse. You had your weight going against you which meant for a much worse situation. He hoped that his brother was okay.

"Th-they think Hazaar and Lazeer are dead." Lhaklar said two minutes later.

"What?" Bile said in shock.

"Your father, he said that Hazaar and Lazeer are dead. My father said nothing about that. I-I think that even he thought so too."

"That man is not my father!" Bile exclaimed. "You are not! You are not! And why shouldn't we be surprised, probably thought all of us were dead. Even ma."

"My father said he was looking for a long time for me, you and mom. He didn't say a thing on Hazaar or Lazeer." Lhaklar's voice was heavy with anger and sadness. "That's why ma don't want us near them, I think. Pop was looking for only half of his children, not all. He didn't care for his two younger children, just his older two."

"You adding me in there or... Ebal? Ekhal? Whatever her name is, I remember a sister but I cannot remember her name."

"Yes, you. Me and you, he was concentrating on just you, me and mom. Not you, me, mom, Hazaar and Lazeer." Lhaklar sat upright.

"Can you get up walk? Hate to say it but it's getting late and you know how ma is with curfew." Bile said. "Be in by seven, no exceptions."

They walked along the shore for a short while, saying not a word, saying no jokes or even humming, Bile figured that his brother was just very badly effected by his father only looking for them and their mom and not their young brothers as well. He felt a bit betrayed as well by that but he figured that his stepfather, his brother's father, thought that because Hazaar had been just a hundred years old when he had been taken and Lazeer had only four months old. He had no idea of how long his stepfather had been searching, a couple of years, on and off or continuous, all he knew was that he was here and they were far from home. Lhaklar had picked a cloud-effect for his teleportation effect while he had picked a cool, groovy black implosion effect for his. When his brother teleported to the other side of the river he followed. They walked behind the ships and were just heading towards home when they heard someone behind them yell out. Bile looked back and saw a Goblin yelling and pointing at them then he shoved Lhaklar's shoulder. He began running off towards home with his brother following him. They have five Goblins running after them but they pulled away fast then turned left onto the train tracks then they put on the breaks.

In 2010 the population of Green River, Wyoming had been some 12,801 persons but with all the plagues and natural disasters it had drastically gone down. The once large city was now a small town that had a population of only three thousand persons and he, his brothers and his mother were five of them. A train station was built right dead in center of the town, trains came and went as they pleased, some had hobos riding the cars while others went by quietly with no extra passengers hoping to hop a free ride to the south or going up north. Hazaar and he had once walked the tracks when he had been one thousand, three hundred and ten years old and he had been nine hundred and ten, Hazaar had fallen and had scraped his knees pretty badly and that had been the end of his walking the tracks with his younger brothers. If his mother caught him on the tracks or in the station she'd flip, hobos came through that had diseases. He had seen one with a face that looked as if it was rotting, another had had warts all over his face and hands and another had chased him down when he had had a sandwich in hand, that one particular hobo had had only one eye, one arm and walked with a limp.

There use to be a mall but it was all boarded and dilapidated now, all the clothing and such were still in the stores as there had been a rush for everyone to head home during the plagues and natural disasters that had gone through. Their mom had taken them to the building to get their clothing, she still did but she did so at night now as things had settled down on Earth and people were keeping an eye out for people who stole. Gone was the McDonald's, it had gone bust after the last plague. Gone was the Burger King, it had gone during the last plague. Gone was the Wendy's, Chick-Fil-A, which his mother said she was glad the restaurant was gone because the food was horrible and actually, that was where the Plague of Meats, as she called it, had started, the only restaurant in the town that was still up and running was Kentucky Fried Chicken, of which Bile was thoroughly glad for as the chicken did taste good... actually he thought everything was damn good at the restaurant and that did include the waitresses. Gone was Arby's and Hardee's, both had gone down with the first plague and had never really recovered. There were thirty apartments in the town, he and his family lived in one of them and they weren't bad off. His mother had done all she could to keep a down low for a few hundred years then she had been discovered by one of the descendants of a friend of hers. She had been approached by movie companies asking if she'd do some of her Elemental Powers in their films to give their films a more real feel which she had said she would. In fifty years she had helped create the effects for over a hundred films, she had been paid well and had put every nickle, dime and penny into them. There were rows of houses on one side of the town, the apartments were on the other side, they were either single floor or double and Bile and his family happen to of lived in a two-level apartment.

Lhaklar worked in center of town, in a place called Kale's World where both men and women danced around. Lhaklar was on of Kale Hemingway's best dancers, Bile had seen him shaking, shimmering and twirling around, throwing his clothes off, dancing to the music and having a good ol' time which drove the ladies crazy. He made about $300 on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, most of that was going towards Lazeer's goggled glass with the rest going towards bills and food for the cabinets and whatever repairs needed to be done on the apartment. Ma thought that his brother was working at one of the food marts, she didn't ask much on the job except how it was going, how his boss acted around him and how his co-workers acted around him. Both his ma and Lhaklar worked but it was really Lhaklar who brought home the bacon. There were two food marts in the town, both were doing well, there was a free market as well where people put down towels or blankets or even put up large displays for items that they were selling. Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer made a point every year to go buy their mother a few items from the free market, when it was cloudy that was. They usually bought her jewelry or something nice to wear like a long, party dress of some shoes. She always accepted the gifts and gave them all hugs, said they were wonderful and that she loved them and couldn't see herself without her boys ever. Bile would bake the cake while Lhaklar iced it and Hazaar and Lazeer decorated it every year. The town of Green River was surrounded by a pink shield of which their mother had put up to protect it from her father. She had conducted a spell on it to allow them and only them in and out while everyone else had to go through a tunnel that was underground that she had made, it went pretty far and was safe. Lhaklar and Bile saw the town, it was about five miles from them and yet something stood in their path. The man who had created Bile with his seed stood directly in front of them, blocking their path. Before they could say anything Lhaklar's father appeared as did Lhaklar's grandfather, DuruVile, and Bile's grandfather and Lhaklar's uncle, KurukVile along with four Goblins and Cheshire, who Lhaklar couldn't remember the name of yet but knew he was related to him in some way.

"Alright boys, you're both injured. You need to come with us so we can tend to whatever injuries you have." the big, burly KurukVile said loudly and strongly.

"You have not a thing to be worried or scared about," TazirVile said. "none of us will hurt you."

"You can still run, right?" Bile asked his brother.

"Yes,"

"Then let's make dust!"

Bile shot to the left and made some tracks, his father veered in his direction and actually clawed his arm, opening four long gashes in his son's right arm which pissed Bile off. Lhaklar went to the right, he went wide and was just able to get by his father. He found out that he'd need to unwind his legs and add some speed and soon, his father was fast. He could feel him breathing down his neck, his presence was that close. Bile made it to the bridge first, he ran across it then turned. His father had been following him, he was just two feet behind him when he had turned. Master Vile got the surprise of his life when his son reeled back then swung his arm forward. He saw stars, he got dizzy then he felt nothing but air as he fell from the bridge to the creek below. Kuruk, having seen what his grandson had done to his father, ran forward fully intending on teaching his grandson a lesson. Bile swung low, caught his grandfather in the stomach then swung his fist up. Kuruk fell back on his rear on the tracks, his jaw throbbed and he tasted blood. Lhaklar jumped over the man then ran to Bile and grabbed him. The two ran off together with Tazir and Cheshire following behind them. Duru stopped only to check on his son, he looked down at the creek and saw that his oldest grandson had gotten out of the creek then he took off in pursuit of the two youngsters who were headed towards the shield.

"Taught my old man a lesson," Bile said to his brother who was running alongside him. "punched him right over the bridge into the creek. He'll not mess with me again."

"Don't be but so sure, Brother." Lhaklar cautioned. "Remember he kept going after ma after she kept beating him and escaping from him time and again. He might do the same to you."

Lhaklar slipped and fell shoulder first to the tracks, he skidded along a short way, scraping his shoulder pretty good on the hard steel, which was pretty rusty, dirt and pebbles of the track then he found a much more pressing problem than his mother getting on him about his cut and bruised face, his cut arms and his torn shirt. His father got to him, grabbed him by his shoulders then picked him up so he was on his feet. The man who he still didn't know ran up and grabbed him by his arms, this man had dark blue skin and a single goggled monocle over his left eye, from the grip that he had on him Lhaklar decided he didn't like the man either. He had a good grip on him, his blood was seeping out from the wounds on his arms like the water in the Green River and the unnamed creek that flowed nearby of which Master Vile had fallen into after his son had punched him in the jaw. Bile, when he saw that his brother wasn't at his side, put on the brakes then turned around. By the time he did DuruVile had already ran up. Duru stayed back, giving the youngster son space, as his father checked him over quickly.

"Nothing broken," TazirVile said. "nothing but skin anyways."

"He looks quite a bit like you, Tazir." Cheshire said. "Strong, look at these arms. He's got his muscles flexed out to max in trying to get away."

"And that is not good, he shouldn't be trying to get away." DuruVile said. "He does know who you are, right? See any recognition in his eyes?"

"I see plenty of recognition in his eyes, he knows who I am." TazirVile said.

"You sure? Take a d-..."

"Look here old man! I don't care if he had recognition or not, he's my son and he's coming home with me!" TazirVile yelled at his father. "He, Bile and his mom. Speaking of which, where is the fine l-..."

Bile rushed in just as Lhaklar swung his arm which Cheshire had loosened slightly. Tazir fell back, the punch his son had given him had been a shock to him and yet, he had expected something like it as his son had been away for so long. Lhaklar's punch had a sizzling effect, Tazir's jaw throbbed then went to sleep, it would be sore the next morning but he'd not mind it at all. His son punching him and his jaw being sore just told him that this was it, it was true that he had found his son that he had been searching for for so long. Bile struck Cheshire, he swung his fists three times and sent the man, who he had heard the name of several times but still didn't know if he was related or not, falling back to the side of the tracks were a little hill fell then he set his sights on Duru, who was his great-grandfather. DuruVile swung his fists five times, he caught Bile on the back twice, then in the ribs twice then in the face then he saw Bile's big, strong fist rushing into his face. DuruVile saw stars, he got disoriented then lost his footing. With himself free, Lhaklar ran off with his brother following behind him. They ran off towards the shield, then went through it and continued on to the train yard where they both finally slid to a stop. Both youngsters looked at each other then broke out laughing for no reason except for the fact that they had beat older, more stronger, experienced and much more mature men and had gotten away.

"That is movie material!" Bile exclaimed. "Bile Vile and LhaklarVile Surfeit beat their old man's, sent a few others to the curb then got away. Yowsa yowsa woo woo!"

"Did you see my father's face!" Lhaklar said loudly. "Did you? Did you see his face after I punched him. Pow, wow, I got punched by my son. What was that? Oh my son's minty green fist rushing into my jaw. Hope he saves some for supper tonight, I gave him a good swing."

"That one guy took a good few punches from me, he needed one of them comic sounds as he fell on his back then slid down the hill." Bile made some comical sounds, the sounds made in them old, 1970's to 1990's cartoons were the character fell from the steel bar of an incomplete, skeletal building that he didn't know he was walking on. "That other guy got me good in the back and ribs but I sent him to his side. Bile-Style, baby. We need to make up a wrestling team, Brother. The Fabulous Bile Vile and his little bro, The Quick Lhaklar... we need to..."

At that moment a whistle blew in the trainyard, usually there was a security officer on the grounds and they thought it was the guard blowing his whistle at them after seeing them walking around on grounds that the elderly human saw as dangerous, not fitting for children, but then they saw the train. It chugged by slowly at first then got faster. When it was just going by them a uniformed man, wearing a blue and gold uniform with a blue hat that had a gold rim tossed four crates out from the caboose. The four crates bounced twice then slid to a stop at both boys feet, Lhaklar saw that one was moving, he heard clicking sounds from the box nearest him. Bile nudged the box near him, it did nothing, it stayed still and there were no sounds coming from it but he did detect the smell of fish coming from the box. Lhaklar bent down to examine the crate that the clicking noises were coming from and at that time the uniformed man threw out two more boxes then began yelling out at them. He was drunk, without a doubt, he yelled loudly then howled up at the sky like a madman.

"Take them crates to you ma, boys. Compliments of Blue Rail Four. Compliments of the Sea, Air and fucking sweat, blood and breath from the men and women who live out on the sea for long months with their fishing poles hangin' over their boats. Aaaahwoooogaaah!"

"Humans, when they are drunk, do some of the most weirdest of things." Lhaklar said, the train had gone off a ways but the man was still yelling out at them. The man was starting to give him the creeps.

"Yeah well, these crates give us an opportunity though." Bile piled two crates on top of the one nearest him then picked them up.

"What's that?"

"Slip in through the window of Lazeer and Hazaar's bedroom, shower real quick, tale care of our wounds, throw away the clothes we are wearing then plop these puppies in front of ma. Her looking through these, doing her ooo's and ahhh's will give us some time to think up a story of what we were doing all day long. She'll sure ask us what we have been up to." Bile said.

"She'll find out, she always does." Lhaklar sighed. "She's our mom, after all."

"Pick up the crates and follow me." Bile said. "Play it cool. Be cool."

"You really are a bad influence, Bile." Lhaklar said, he piled up the three crates, picked them up then ran off after his brother who was heading towards home.


	13. Chapter 13

In the mornings he just had to be careful around his mother, it wasn't because he was afraid of her, because he wasn't, he loved his ma so much that words couldn't be arranged to describe it, it wasn't because he was too sleepy to go up and say loudly _gooood moooornin' ma!. _It was because, some nights, his mother didn't sleep well and she was a teeny, tiny bit groggy. She had her things that concerned her, she had a lot to worry over and a majority of it was him and his brothers. Where was she going to get the money for Lazeer's goggled glass, was the next paycheck going to cover the bill that was due at the end of the month, was the next paycheck going to be enough to buy her four growing boys enough food to get by the next two weeks, was there enough money put away just in case one of her growing boys had something come up that they wanted such as a model car or plane, a magazine on hunting or on trains or something that the men were highly into which wasn't porn and the one thing he was sure that she worried over, was there enough left over from the last paycheck for a new pair of pants or a new shirt for one of her growing boys. He and Lhaklar had slipped into the apartment through the window that looked out from Hazaar and Lazeer's bedroom, luck had been on their side as no one had been in the room. They had slipped in the crates then had carried them into the kitchen before heading upstairs to shower quickly then apply the medications to their wounds and wrap any wounds that were bad enough to warrant a bandage. Mother had come in just as they both had entered the kitchen, she had taken one look at her two older sons then had rushed forward to examine their faces.

The story had come quickly, he and Lhaklar had gotten into a fight, one of them brotherly things where one went too far and the other was just acting in his defense. It had gotten out of hand and they had hurt each other. Their mother had asked if they learned anything from their little fight, had given them the look only a mother would give her sons who had done something that they shouldn't have and they had said yes. He had admitted that he had started the fight and had apologized to his brother for it and the injuries he had inflicted on him and his brother had done the same then had said in the way that sooo annoyed him _if you wasn't one who liked to think things said were worse than they were you'd be better off _and _if you didn't let things get to you like they do you would be fine_. He had said for his brother to shut up then he had sat down at the table. His little brother had winked his eye at him when their mother had nodded her head before turning around to examine the contents of the crates that had been tossed from the caboose of the train then he had sat down across from him.

Their mother had picked the first crate up and had taken it to the counter for examining, she had cut the ties from the crate then had popped the top off with a crowbar before looking in. The first crate had clothes in it, imagine that, the first crate had had clothes in it that could fit all four of them. The second crate had had woman's clothing in it, some fine clothing which had made their mother gush. The third and fourth crates had shoes in them, some of which were their size and others that were not but would be useful in selling as they could use the cash while the fifth and sixth crates had had food in them. His mother had squealed with delight, which had plumb scared both he and Lhaklar to death as they had thought that by their mother squealing she had found something horrible, scary and or disgusting in the crate but, in truth, she had found something wonderful. Six red lobsters, their pinchers rubber banded to keep from clipping the fingers of the people who handled the crate and the people who picked them up, had been in the crate. _We'll be eatin' good tonight boys_, she had said after turning around with one of the lobsters held in her hand,_ lobster for supper_. The sixth crate had had several male, ocean phase adult sockeye salmon in it, about ten all piled up on top of one another and several blocks of cheese, a block of ham and three small loafs of cinnamon bread._ Be eatin' good for a few days my dear baby boys, _their mama had said after seeing the contents in the crate, _you'll all be acting like lil piggies for a few days_.

His mother was a marvelous cook, she had cooked up all six of them lobsters and had served them all that night. Lobster tail, lobster legs, she had eaten half of a full steamed lobster then had given the rest to Hazaar before leaning back in her chair. Lazeer had perked up, the first time in days he had cracked a joke about sneaking to the kitchen to steal the leftovers of their lobster supper then had asked if Lhaklar would hold the wedding as he wanted to marry the lobster that he was eating. That had gotten them all laughing, the kid was depressed because of his eye problem but their mother's cooking always perked him up. Fresh made lemonade had also been served with their supper then their mother had plopped a nice, and so mouth wateringly delicious Raisin cake on the table that had taken his and his brothers breaths away. Lhaklar had said that Lazeer could go on and marry the damn lobster, he wanted to marry the cake and that had sparked further ruckus at the table. Who was going to marry he cake, who was going to father mini-Raisin cakes with the cake, who was going to tell Lazeer's lobster wife that he was cheating on her with the cake, oh it had gone on and on for almost an hour and a half then they had dispersed.

Their apartment wasn't one of them large, overly spacious apartments that some of them actors lived in. It was comfortable, somewhat tight but oh so filled with love that they were all perfectly fine with it. There was a living room in the front along with a broom closet that their mother had converted into a plain closet for their coats and for the vacuum and carpet cleaners and the toilet paper, filters for the furnace and the one or two boards that were just sitting there, just there in case they were needed for when a repair was needed in the apartment. Hazaar and Lazeer resided in the room on the first floor, it was big enough for them both and for another but their mother had wanted it that way, that way they weren't bumping into each other, driving each other batty or going crazy because ones items were on the wrong side of the room or someone touched an item that wasn't there. His and Lhaklar's room was the same size as their little brother's, it was upstairs on the second floor which was accessed by the stairs. Their mother slept on the sleeper sofa, a dark blue, leather couch that could be converted to become a bed with a few adjustments. He and his brother's had been trying to get her to not sleep on the thing, they worried about her back and about her sleep, Hazaar had offered their mother his bed and so had Lhaklar but she'd always refuse, she'd always say that that was a nice gesture but she was fine and for them to keep their beds. They kept at it, kept pushing her to take one of their beds as they all knew that she missed having the comfort of a mattress under her back, the cushiony mattress was so much more better than a springy, pull-out frame from a sleeper couch. The carpet throughout the apartment was cream-colored, the walls were painted light blue as was the ceiling and the vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms, which there were two in the apartment and they were all damn glad for that as, since there were five in the apartment there might be an emergency or something, someone would have needed to use the bathroom pretty badly and not able to because there would of been a traffic jam, a line waiting for using the room, anyways... the vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms were dark blue and had a pebbled texture to them.

Bile slowly walked up to his mother, who was dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans, a purple blouse that had a ruffled neckline and had blue slippers on her feet, she had a robe around herself, the top part was down by her elbows which allowed for him to see her shirt, and looked right chilly which made him want to tear the sleeper couch to pieces. The living room got cold, his mother slept on the sleeper couch with only two blankets and only one pillow, she was really taking a risk in catching a cold and he worried so much on that. Bile stretched his hand forward then gently plopped it on her shoulder. His mother looked up, stopped what she was doing then went back to what she was doing. So far so good, if his mother was groggy and didn't want to be messed with she would have told him to scram. Bile walked up to her normally then wrapped his arms around her, giving her one of his big, warm, good morning hugs.

"My goodness Bile! Your hugs keep getting warmer with each giving." his mother said.

"Please promise you'll turn on the radiator heater tonight ma," Bile said, his mother was really chilly. "you're cold. I'm afraid you'll get very sick."

"Oh you hush," his mother said. "I'll put it on tonight, forgot to last night."

"You say that every morning!" Bile whined. "I'll put it on for you, that way you don't have to worry about it."

"That is so sweet of you, I have it though. Don't you worry any on me."

"I love you." he beamed with pride inside, he felt all warm and toasty inside after saying them very truthful words.

"I love you too," his mother said. "is Lhaklar up?"

"His alarm went off just as mine did."

"Hazaar and Lazeer?"

"I have no idea."

"Go check for me, please." his mother gave him a gentle push in the direction of his little brother's room. "Be nice, Bile. Get them up, it's eight in the morning."

"I will, mama."

Hazaar was up, he and Lazeer slept on single beds which were up against the opposite sides of the walls. Their two dressers were propped up against each other, back to back in the center of the room which was unique. Model planes, space ships and dinosaurs either littered the top of their dressers or hung down from the ceiling. There was one single alarm clock, a normal one with glow in the dark letters, on Lazeer's dresser. Hazaar was up, he had already gotten dressed and was on his way out when he walked in. There was nothing said between the two, Hazaar was one who was quiet in the mornings, he was a bit moody and liked to plain be left alone for thirty minutes to an hour then he got somewhat loud and perky afterwards. Lazeer, although being up and had dressed himself, had climbed back into bed. This was his usual these past few hundred years, the kid was really depressed and all of them worried about him, especially Lhaklar. He had developed the eye ailment in his left eye at the age of six hundred and fifty-nine years, he had trooped through the years with it but these past three hundred years he had been growing more and more depressed about it. He couldn't be normal, could go out and do as his brother's did, couldn't follow his brother's around or bug them apey outside when the sun was blasting down its rays. It was either he had to stay inside during sunlight hours or he went out and hid under a thickly leaved tree. He hated it, they hated it, their mother hated it... Bile sat down at the foot of his brother's bed slowly then reached over and shook his brother's shoulder.

"Go away please." his brother said from under the sheets and blanket.

"Mom wants you in the kitchen, breakfast." Bile said.

"Tell her to make a delivery."

"I will not!" Bile grabbed the blanket and sheets in his hand then tore them back. Lazeer grumbled, he growled a little then he shot up and grabbed his bedding. He pulled his sheets and blanket back over him. "Mom says for you to get your blue ass in the kitchen."

"I'm not getting up."

"Yes, you will." Bile said.

"Why should I eat when I basically don't exist except for under a tree or inside the house?" Lazeer moped. "Lemme alone!"

"Mom and Lhaklar are working hard to get your glass," Bile said, it was true, they were. "it'll only be a little while longer."

"That's what she said the last time."

"Lazeer! Mom and Lhaklar will get the cash together! You will get your glass!"

When their mother had been told about Navub Babusa and his specks which were priced at lower than what other optometrists charge she had called him up right away. She had gone to Albany, New York at midnight, had hooked up the payphone in the subway station then had rang the guy up. The last guy she had had to put a payment down for the appointment, a hundred dollars, and he charged over three grand for just one damn goggled glass, Mr. Navub Babusa said for her to bring herself and his brother over in the morning, his appointment charge was free which was fine and dandy... but then he had said what the charge was and that had made all of his brother's hopes drop. When they had found out about the guy Lazeer had begun going back to himself, he had begun to make plans in saying he was going to be out all of the time and that he'd be bugging all of them crazy after he got his eye problem fixed. Well... maybe he wasn't going out all the time after finding out that the price was still too high and they didn't have the dough for his goggled glass but he was bugging them ape-shit. Ma had been taking him to the planet called Zeta Ren in the Zeta Reticuli system to cheer him up, Lhaklar had gone along with on two trips but mostly, it was just his mama and Lazeer that went. Lazeer had gotten plumb scared when that guy, who their mother had explained was related to him, had come up to him asking if he had been on the news on one of the trips. On the news? Lazeer on the news? His ma had been getting Granny D, as he and his brothers called her, to send her the newspapers from planets all over the universe, she had been particularly interested in the ones from Zeta Ren though, these past few days. Lazeer was scared that he was a wanted criminal because he had ran off with a magazine, of which he was returning but due to that damn guy scaring him to piece he had taken off with it clinched in his hand. Although the newspapers said that he wasn't wanted by the law for his oops moment of running off with a magazine, there were quite a lot of articles on him and mom being written.

"Come on man! Get up, mom really wants you at the table, same as me. We are holding up breakfast."

"I'm not going."

"You're going if I have to tip the bed upside down! Get up!" Bile insisted.

"I'll throw acid on you if you try."

"Geeeeet up!" Bile grabbed his brother's bedding then tore it off of him. "Up, up, up, Uuuuuhpuh!"

Lazeer got up, he glared at Bile then trudged out of his and Hazaar's bedroom to the kitchen. Bile quickly made up his brothers bed, making it all nice, then followed. He went down the hallway a short way then was pulled to the side. Lhaklar held him tight against the wall, his mint-green hands gripped his shirt tightly. Lhaklar had had a decent nights sleep, as had he, but he now looked as if he had seen a ghost. His mint-green face was a little lighter in color, his Pistachio eyes were wide and full of shock and fear. Bile was under the impression that his brother might have been found out about his cigarettes or that he had been found out about his dancing and was just coming to him to buy him out of the guillotine. Bile slowly put his hands up, he tore his brother's hands off of his shirt then he pushed him away about a foot from him. Before he could say anything on his brother's behavior, Lhaklar dropped a nice, morning, package of doom on his lap. A package that had a ticker in it, ticking away the seconds before the doom, which was their mother, went boom with anger.

"Distract mom will ya? Granny D sent her two newspapers, both have headlines on us on the front page."

Distract mom? No problem, they walked into the kitchen normally, the two newspapers were on the kitchen table, all rolled up with a rubber band around the middle to keep them that way until the reader too it off. Hazaar was seated at his place, his head was dipped slightly, the hint of sleep was still evident on his face. Lazeer was sitting in his chair at the table, he was looking off in the distance at nothing, regardless of it being a new day he was still going to try his best to act as depressed as he could. Lhaklar had been able to snatch a newspaper before dad could read it easy as a kid, he'd just run up and grab it then run off to his safe area, which was the bathroom, and read it. He had once snatched the paper from pop's hand and made off with it, naturally there had been the get back here saying s from their old man and a small chase down but his brother had gotten to read the paper first always. Their father would always sit at the table during breakfast, before they were able to eat he'd put his elbow on the table, put his head in his hand then say you done reading that paper yet, son? which would always get Lhaklar to pull his head down and hunch his shoulders in a sort of embarrassed, you caught me, way. The paper would be handed over afterwards, usually intact, sometimes with the pages messed up but never torn, ripped or crumbled up. That was then, Lhaklar had tried to do that with ma after she had brought them to Earth and he just couldn't pull it off anymore. Ma was fast, ma knew what was about to happen and prevented it and, of course, Lhaklar knew that when ma said drop it she meant it. Drop the paper, gotcha ma! You read it first, I'll read it afterwards. Bile walked over to his mother, stood beside her then started up a conversation.

"What was the weather report this morning?" lame, it was a lame question but all he could come up with at the moment.

"It'll be cloudy today, no rain but cloudy." his mother replied. "Which means, Lazeer," his mother turned around and looked at his little brother who looked over at her. "you are being kicked out of this house for a few hours. Go off and play with your brothers. Follow them around, bug 'em batty, scrape a knee or something. Quit moping and just sitting around doing nothing."

"I'd prefer to stay at home." Lazeer said pitifully.

"I'm heading over to Granny D's before work, this place will be locked tight. All of you boys will be out of the house. Don't go anywhere near that camp, you hear me Bile?"

"Yes, ma." Bile said. "H-how is Granny D?"

"She's doing well, sends her love as always. She'll be coming over one day next week to see you boys."

"Thanks for the warning, I'll make sure to have my cheeks of steel on." Hazaar said.

"She'll still get through them," Lazeer said. "she only pinches your cheeks because you're so darn cuuuuute."

"Lay off, Mohawk!" Hazaar said in annoyance.

"I love my Mohawk, Tail-Boy!" Lazeer shot. "Or did you lop off the purple tail? Spent a lot of time in the bathroom last night."

"I had... problems that needed... tending to." Hazaar said ackwardly.

"Uh huh."

"Alright boys, that's enough. Do all of that outside, Lazeer. I'm serious now, everyone will be homeless for six hours." their mom said, she then said behind her back. "Lhaklar, you touch them papers and you'll be walking around with stubs for hands."

Bile was thinking the same as his brother when they took their places at the table, time to write up the obituaries, time to pick out the grave markers, time to dig the dirt and make their graves, time to pick the coffins and final suits. They were dead, it was hopeless now, their mom put plates of blueberry waffles, maple syrup bacon, eggs and toast that had either butter or jelly on the surface down in front of them then sat down with her plate. She took one bite of her eggs then reached over to grab one of the papers. Lhaklar grabbed the one closest to him, a big no-no. Their mom glared at him, cleared her throat then held her hand out, he was stuck in a corner, backed up, had a net over him! Bile's stomach went cold as he saw the paper being handed over, he nearly got sick when he saw the rubber band being removed then saw the headline on the first page which said Master Vile Declares Son Living. Hazaar and Lazeer, although were eating, were looking back and forth between he and Lhaklar, they were wondering what was going on for their older brothers to be acting so off. Bile looked across the table at his brother, he had one of the most defeated looks on his face. It would have been comical, had it not of also been on his face as well.

Bile looked at the brother on his left, Hazaar was five hundred years younger than he was but he was a good kid. He had his moments of being funny, his moments of being mean, his moments of also driving one completely insane. Hazaar had been a hundred years old when his mother had whisked them all away, saying something bad was about to happen and that she wanted them all to be safe, he looked none of what he looked as a hundred year old now. His little brother had dark blue skin and two, oval eyes that were slanted sideways that were a deep purple color and were very shiny. The rat-tail of hair that he had been born with had barely been there, just a quarter of an inch in length and a deep purple in color. It was now four and a half inches long, pretty full and his brother had braided two strands of it, how he had done it was beyond him. They had all asked why he had such deep purple hair and eyes when their mother had fiery red hair and their father had light blue skin, their mother had explained that by the mixing of her hair and their father's skin it had effected the develop of their son's appearance, meaning that by the combination of her fiery red hair and genetics and their father's light blue skin and his genetics, and that fact that their father's mother had dark blue skin which was in their father's genetic code, they had a chance to produce a child with deep purple hair. His brother was wearing a pair of multi-brown pants, faded slightly at the knees while being faded greatly at both the inner and outer thighs, and a brown shirt that he always kept tucked in. On his feet were brown shoes, the ties were a light brown but they matched.

Bile then looked over at Lazeer, this brother had been born early. Lazeer had been brought home after a month in the NICU at the hospital, his life expectancy had been said to be a short day or two after he had been taken out of the hospital and yet here he was. Born small, born strong at first then had gotten pretty weak then after ma had begun her mothering on him, letting him nurse from her breasts, being with him constantly, he had survived all expectations. Lazeer had barely had the strength to open his eyes when he had been brought home, he had also barely moved and he had been born fully bald. As funny as it seemed, now that he was a row of red hair, about two inches in width, going from one side of his head, around the back then stopping at the other side of his head, he looked normal. His hair really set him off as being their ma's son, he had inherited his hair from her and, although it wasn't as fiery or cast a glow out like their ma's, it wasn't dull by any means. While Hazaar was five foot, eleven inches tall and still growing, Lazeer was six feet tall. Hazaar had a hard as steel type of body, very lean but packed with naturally gotten muscle, Lazeer also had a lean body that had muscle on it, like all of them he had gotten his muscle the natural way. Lazeer was wearing his favorite outfit, a dark gray pair of pants, ripped at the knees, and a netted shirt and multi-brown and gray shoes that had dark gray ties. Bile was glad that his little brother had survived, he gave all of the credit to his mother for this because, if it hadn't of been her and her good, natural milk which she still produced he would not be alive and well, sitting and eating at the table with them.

"Where did you two go off to yesterday?" their mother asked, the paper wasn't opened, she had the front page article up and was reading it. "Where did you two have your big, bro brawl again?"

"B-behind the deserted McDonald's." Bile swallowed hard.

"Really, huh, you two sure you wasn't outside of the shield in an area that I've told you not to be?"

"Busted! Ha ha!" Hazaar cheered loudly.

"Now I AM glad I got up out of bed!" the corners of Lazeer's O-shaped mouth curved up sharply in a sick grin.

"Mom... I..."

"You deliberately disobeyed me!"

Lhaklar looked at his brother who looked as if he was about to start bawling. Their mother was rambling on and on, saying how disappointed she was in him over him not obeying her orders to stay in the shield and not go near the camp that had been set up a few days earlier. Mother got on them all pretty hard at times but it was all done correctly, she would never get on them for something they didn't deserve to be gotten on for or say how disappointed she was in one of them for their not obeying her instructions. She got on them when they needed to be gotten on and it was always done because she loved them all dearly. She wasn't one of them parents that got on their kids for no reason, she never used sticks or belts and she never insulted. It was always the word disappointed and that was it, she never called him or his brother's stupid, she never called them idiots or fools, she never insulted them about their lifestyles or the way they acted. Lhaklar was like Bile, he loved his ma with all of his heart, words just could describe how much he loved her or respected her. His ma was always there for him, always there for them. Always there to talk to, always there to help them with their problems, always there to comfort them. Like Amadh Ubalki, Lhaklar and all of his brothers saw their mother as the greatest mother a child could ever have. The paper he had picked up from the one from that planet called Gamma-Vile, she had read the article that, he guessed, only had his brother listed on it. Some evil brothers would just sit back and smile, letting the older brother take all the rap and flap, he wasn't that way.

"It wasn't just him, mom." he admitted. "I-I was there too."

"Mom's about to hit the roof, RUN!" Hazaar said loudly.

"Pardon me?" their mother said, she looked over at Lhaklar, gave him one of them serious looks that made him feel chilled all over.

"I was with Bile as well, wasn't just him that..."

"Young man!"

"He followed me," Bile said, trying to defend his brother. "he... he followed me to the camp, wanted to see where I was going."

"You two could have been killed!" their mother screamed, she threw the paper she had in her hands at Bile. He turned at just the right time so it struck him in the shoulder and not in the face. "You two got involved in a fight in the camp didn't you? Who hurt you? Which one was it that touched you?"

"No one, mama." Bile said.

"Don't you lie to me!" their mother yelled. "You both came home all busted up, bruised. Which one in that c-..."

"It wasn't one of the adults, mom. It was one of the kids." Lhaklar said.

Lhaklar spilled his guts all out on the table in explaining what had happened. He had followed Bile to the camp, had caught him and had said he was going to turn him in then he had seen his father and had decided to stick around out of pure curiousness. He ran off the list of names of the adults that they had seen, his father, grandfather, his uncle and son on then he got to the part quickly on the kids. He decided to move on quickly because here was his mama, steaming mad, her fiery red hair looking like it was fire, her emerald-green eyes with the golden-yellow ring around the black pupils bright with anger. He told of the kids, of how Baruk and Gaajah had attacked two little kids that he guessed were in their early hundreds then had turned on a Goblin who had been trying to protect the kids. His mother calmed down after that, she looked at him with a soberness that was somewhat comforting, it calmed both him and Bile down from their near heart attacks. Hazaar and Lazeer had leaned back in their chairs, Hazaar had his arm around the back while Lazeer was just looking on in a sort of sick amusement. As with him, or Bile, they had a sickness to them. They enjoyed the spectacle of when one or two of them were getting the books thrown at them by their mother. They all had their moments when ma had to yell at them to put them in their place or in expressing her fears that they were going too far in their travels or their little adventures that led to dangerous situations. Lhaklar quickly finished what had happened the day before then looked down, he had folded his hands on his lap, he felt so little and weak at that moment and really, so did Bile who was looking down at his feet.

"I see, so Bile went off when Baruk and Gaajah attacked two youngsters that were hundreds of years younger than they?" their mother asked.

"Yes, ma. I tried to hold him back but..."

"So all them cuts, bruises and scrapes came from Baruk and Gaajah?"

"Yes, ma."

"That paper mentions nothing about them two. Just that Bile was seen, he acted violent and escaped." their mother said.

"It's true, m-m-mother." Bile stammered, he felt embarrassed for stammering but he was near to crying. "B-Baruk was punching, pushing and kicking the two little kids around. That Goblin came up to stop him and he just couldn't get him to back down. Gaajah joined up with him quickly. I ran..."

"We," Lhaklar corrected quickly.

"We ran in just before Baruk could go after one of the little kids with the Goblins belt."

"Baruk was always one for bullying, so was Gaajah." their mother sighed. "I suppose they all saw you, not just the Goblin or... my and Bile's father."

"Yes," Lhaklar nodded his head in despair, he got ready for the tongue lashing, grounding and possible dish towel whapping.

There was no tongue lashing or grounding or dish towel chasing them around the kitchen, they ate in a sort of nervous way then put their dishes in the sink. Bile tried to tip-toe away, he tried to become like an invisible person but before anyone could leave their mother cleared her throat. The clearing of the throat after she had gotten on one of them meant that they were to not leave the room, if they did that would garner the offending leaver some very bad consequences such as double time in grounding, a long list of chores or a good whip-whapping with that white dish towel that had green designs on the ends. Bile and Lhaklar turned together, they both felt utterly defeated, utterly drained of all emotions and of all pride. Hazaar and Lazeer both turned, although they had not been the ones that had gotten yelled at they also acted in the submissive mode. If all four of them had had tails, they'd of all been tucked in deep between their legs, as it was Bile felt as if his ears had drooped down.

"Now, I don't blame you two for going to protect them kids, I am glad that you did." their mother said. "But I am not glad that you two disobeyed my orders so..." here it came, the punishment for the disobeying. What would it be, wash and wax the floors? clean the gutters? do the long list of shopping? two weeks of grounding? The list went on and on for both Bile and Lhaklar, they both looked down at the floor. "Bile, you do the grass. Front, back, sides and clip the grass down around the edges of the apartment then grab a bucket, some soapy water and scrub the outside walls of the apartment clean."

"Yes mother." Bile said, he was thinking that that was better than having the world's biggest dish towel whapping his body.

"Lhaklar, there are two big trees in the back yard. You get them down, no gloves."

"Yes mother." Lhaklar winced, he had a feeling he'd have some very raw hands at the end of the day but, like Bile, he was glad it wasn't a grounding for more than two weeks or a dish towel whapping.

"Hazaar... Lazeer... you two head out. Doors will be locked today. Pester your brothers while they are busy. Do it good now."

"Yes mama." Hazaar said, he smiled at Bile who he automatically claimed as his for the pestering that day.

"Can do." Lazeer said, he elbowed Lhaklar in the side, he had automatically claimed him for the days pestering.

"Be good now, boys." their mother said, she got her things she escorted them all out of the apartment, locked the door behind her then started down the sidewalk. "Stay inside the shield, boys."

"We will." all four of them promised at once.


	14. Chapter 14

Eshal did what she could the first few days she was in camp, cleaning and keeping up with the kids although that was difficult because she, herself, was still a kid. Her father was walking around with a jar that was bruised on one side, that was his telling that what had happened three days before was true. The bruise told him that he had seen his son, her younger brother, and that he was in good shape. He had to be, otherwise his jaw wouldn't be dark purple. That guy who was her father's nephew and who was her cousin, Vile, had woken up the morning after he had seen his son to find that his cheek on down to his jaw on his left side of his face was black and pretty swollen. He wasn't very happy about that and was planning on doing a long lecture with his son the second he was caught on how to treat his elders. Her granddaddy had surprised her, she had expected for him to be angry that Bile had fought him and that his face, his entire face, was bruised up but he was acting like it was no big deal. Her uncle, Kuruk, was experiencing a bit of a temper towards Bile. Bile had fractured his jaw but luckily, by way of the medical table and a good rest, he was mended up in no time.

She had stayed out of whatever had happened to Baruk and Gaajah, although she had heard the crying and begging. They did deserve whatever discipline that they had gotten, Qhuakiz had needed a gentle face cleaning, then some Swell-B-Gone cream put on his face to drop the swelling then had followed the Bru-Cream, which was a blue colored cream that one would put on bruises. The cream had done wonders, within half an hour all of his bruises were gone, his swelling was down and he looked back to normal. Her grandmother and grandfather had tended their son well, neither had put him down for hours. Trobrencus and Bahne had done the same with their son, although he wasn't as badly bruised or beaten as Qhuakiz that didn't matter, they were good parents who doted on their children and went to pieces whenever one was in trouble or had been hurt. Eshal thought back to three days before, Kaasa had allowed for her father to use his telepathy on her to see what had happened on Expedition Island then he had showed everyone by making a blue sphere form from the tip of his wand then casting it sideways at a concrete wall.

Baruk had gotten up and had charged at Bile but before he could get to him he had found himself eating grass. Bile had crouched low then had struck out like a Tiger, there had been a fierce battle between the two, punches had been exchanged and for the most part, she had thought on two occasions that Bile was over his head. A strong punch to his chin then another to his stomach had dropped him back a foot or two then he had leaped back in. Baruk, whenever Bile had punched him in the stomach or side, had flown two feet back. In Eshal's eyes, both had looked pretty well matched. She had winced after seeing how Baruk had gotten that cut that went over his left eye. Bile had swung, he had caught Baruk in the eye then Baruk had ducked low, Bile's long, dark yellow fingernail had scraped Baruk's eye in the process. That wound was pretty much on Baruk's fault, he really shouldn't have ducked down and was right lucky that he had his left eye still.

Lhaklar had shouted out for Bile to stop then he had been rushed at from the side. Gaajah had ran in and had grabbed him around the middle, it had seemed that Gaajah was the one who would win that fight. He looked stronger but, curiously, her brother had been very limber. After Gaajah had grabbed him around the middle, Lhaklar had swung his body around then had swung his fist, the small cut above his right eye was caused from that first punch. Lhaklar had ducked each of the first round of punches then had swung his fists up then inward. The cuts on Lhaklar's arms had happened when Gaajah had scraped his thumbnails down after grabbing him, after trying to pin him down. Gaajah had been fast and steady on his feet while Lhaklar had had a quick bounce and slide to his movements, it really looked as if he had inherited her daddy's quick movements. After the fight had been examined there had been talk on it. Whose son was better, whose son beat the other worse, who had the upper hand and so on. Everyone had been in agreeance that Bile was in his elemental and that he and Baruk had looked evenly matched while there had been a draw with Lhaklar. Gramma Ashaklar and grampa Cheshire had said that Lhaklar looked in his element and looked very strong, while grampa Duru had said that he believed his son would have had a better fight had he of had a better hold on the ground. Grampy Shaam had said that he thought that both were pretty strong youngsters, but he had said that he was not so sure on Lhaklar looking in his element though. Her father had been on Lhaklar's side, saying that he was a very strong young man. After ten minutes of talking they had all dispersed, uncle Kuruk had gone to his ship to deal with his son while granddad Duru had gone to his to deal with his son while uncle Trobrencus, or Trob as she and most of the others called him, and his wife had gone off to deal with Impub.

Cousin Vile had declared his son fully alive, he had ripped up his death certificate, Bile's tombstone had been removed from the cemetary behind grampa Duru's house along with Lhaklar's but her ma's remained. Newspaper articles had been written, two articles had come out in the same paper the day after they had seen Bile and Lhaklar with an article the day after on the tombstones being removed from Surfeit Cemetary then an article had been written the day after about the new arrivals on Earth. All of her uncles and aunts had teleported in with their things, all wanted to see Bile and Lhaklar and there had been an arrival that was most unexpected as well. Gloar Rovnitov, her father's former classmate and friend in school who was still his friend to the present day and who happened to also be his closest neighbor, had showed up. Gloar and his wife, Vixbie, had babysat all of them on nights when her ma and daddy had gone out on their dates. They were close family friends. Gloar had showed up fully intending to assist and also wanting to see her two brother's as well. Some of her uncles and aunts, their children and their children's children were staying in grampy Shaam's ship, others were staying in her daddy's ship while there were a few others who were staying in uncle Kuruk's ship.

Her daddy was mad about something, though. Zshon had walked up to him with the report of what the black cigarette butt had carried on it. DNA had been found and, surprisingly, Lhaklar had turned out to be the smoker. At two thousand, one hundred years old he was smoking cigarettes and that was not good. He was young, his lungs were still growing and developing, he didn't need to be smoking. Her father had plans to have both Bile and Lhaklar on a six step program to kick the stuff. First would be the confessing, second would come the reason why they were smoking then the third step would come in where they would be told to stop and be confiscated of their smokes with the following steps being constant contact, constant comfort and... well she hadn't really heard what the sixth step was but the six step program didn't sound but so bad. At least it was better then just blowing up in their faces about it, telling them to stop then beating them whenever the scent was smelled on them like grampa Duru had said her father should do. As she walked down the hallway of her father's ship she came upon Homsi, he had allowed for her father to read his mind to see what had happened before the fight then had been let off the hook. Really, Eshal thought, she didn't think her father would do much more than a slap on the wrist or a slight yelling session with Homsi, although Homsi was her father's employee he and her father seemed to be pretty good friends. Eshal stopped to talk to Homsi then stopped herself from speaking, Homsi had a holo-comun in his hand and was speaking with his wife. She went off down the hallway a bit then leaned up against the wall, she could hear what was being said but she remained where she was, she gave Homsi his space and the respect that he deserved to have.

"Miss. Eshal," Homsi said after shutting his holo-comun off and walking over to her. "how may I be of service to you?"

"You don't think all of the extras in camp will scare them off, do you?" Eshal asked.

"Only time will tell, Miss. Eshal." Homsi replied.

"We haven't seen them in days, I worry."

"Miss. Eshal, if I may, I am more concerned over the fact that your ma wasn't with them." Homsi said.

"Daddy says that they might live near here and that ma might have just let them walk around." Eshal said, although she did agree with Homsi. She was also concerned that her mom hadn't been sighted yet.

"Master Tazir, I do believe, has plans to check the towns and cities around this area." Homsi said. "He's just going to do it slowly, send ten or so Goblins into the shields. No pulling out of humans this time, just looking around for your ma and brothers."

"When? Do you know?"

"Quite possibly tonight." Homsi said. "I'm not sure."

It took three more days before his master gave the order for ten Goblins, exactly, nothing above that number as he didn't want any attention drawn, to head into the towns and the two cities in the area. Homsi found himself going with the first group, Losal found himself going in the second and Eldass found himself heading to Rock Springs, the city next to the one that was called Green River, with the third group. Their searching found nothing, an entire night of searching found nothing so they went back. On the second day of the groups going in their master changed it up, thinking better to send out his Goblins during the daylight hours. Homsi, again, found himself going with the first group while Losal and Eldass went with the groups they had gone with them night before. Goblins that were in the military were far different than ones that had gone to Staffer's Academy. Although they signed their Loyalty Papers with the one they wished to be loyal to forever in their blood they did so without thinking of spouses or offspring of the one that they wanted to be loyal to forever. That was why he, Losal and Eldass were picked to go along with the groups, their master knew that if the groups had found his wife or sons that there would be problems, the Goblins in the groups would attack and fight and injure without thinking of the loyalties that bound them. As it was, Homsi disliked the lieutenant that was in his group. The guy was young, the guy was strong and what was worse, the guy thought nothing special of Mistress Angel or Young Masters Bile and Lhaklar.

They went through the shield at dawn that surrounded Bairoil, a town that looked almost deserted. Homsi saw buildings that were boarded up, buildings that had crumpled down and buildings that had been taken over by the environment around the town. Tumbleweeds, dust and debris blew around. The lieutenant in charge, or so he thought he was, declared that the town wasn't inhabited quickly and turned about, Homsi stayed back to scout the area a little more then turned around and followed the group that he was with. The lieutenant went to the towns of Wamsutter then to Superior where he was met up with the group that Losal was with, then decided to just head back. Homsi and Losal looked at each other and decided to keep searching, the lieutenant was really showing his true colors. He was not looking for Master Tazir's wife, nor was he looking for Young Master's Bile and Lhaklar either. He was just going into the shields, glancing around then heading to some other place. The two towns that they had searched were far above Green River where they had seen Bile and Lhaklar so Homsi and Losal decided to teleport to a place nearest the river.

"What have we searched so far?" Losal asked, he had a map spread out on the ground and was down on his hands and knees looking down at it.

"Went to Bairoil this morning, Wamsutter and Superior." Homsi replied. "Eldass and his group went to Rock Springs, Washam, Reliance and Eden yesterday. Says that of the four, only Rock Springs looked populated."

"A lot of the western portion of the continents were struck hard by them disasters and plagues, quite a many died or just moved out of fear." Losal said. "Clearview Acres, Arrowhead Springs, Farson, McKinnon and North Rock Springs were also searched. Of those, only North Rock Springs and Clearview Acres looked populated."

"Was Little America, Purple Sage, Table Rock and James Town searched?" Homsi had a notepad out, he had written down the names of the towns two days before as had Losal and Eldass. As Losal ran off the towns that had been visited he had scratched them off.

"No, they haven't."

"Lets check them then." Homsi said, he flipped his notepad closed, put it in pocket inside of his brown tuxedo jacket then slipped his pen into his back pocket. "We'll break for lunch then check the other areas, they have to be around here somewhere."

As Homsi and Losal searched through Table Rock and James Town, finding the two towns nearly, fully deserted except for a handful of people or just one or two families living in windbeaten houses that looked about ready to cave in, Lhaklar and Bile were seated up against one of the rickety old buildings that had once been What-A-Burger, a restaurant that had closed its doors forever after 2065 after going bankrupt, enjoying one of them good ol' smokes after spending half of the day before indoors because it had been raining then the morning after dealing with chores around the house. Lhaklar sported some good broken skin on his hands, he had wacked them trees pretty hard and fast and had cut his hands up in several places but he hadn't even bat an eye at the pain. He had just kept chopping, taking the punishment his mother had given him for being out of the shield and near the camp that his father and his father's family were in in his little ol' two thousand, one hundred year old stride. Lazeer had be a big pest, a constant bug in his ear that just wouldn't shut up. He had rambled on and on about his swinging, you're swinging too high, you're swinging too low, you're swinging too low, watch it! you'll lose the axe by swinging that hard and fast! Oh it had been so annoying then his brother had added in his dose of questions. What was dad like, was he nice, was he mean, what did he look like, did you see anyone else besides dad and Baruk and Gaajah, those types of questions had kept coming his way and he had done his best to answer them between chops. He really couldn't answer the questions on what their father was like, he knew he was a nice man before their mother had taken them away but people changed and he could have very well of gone from being the nice, cool and understanding anciently old yet young man that he had been to being a downright grouch. He had said that he had seen granddad, he couldn't answer the question on whether the man was nice or not because he, again, did not really know that answer. He had seen uncle Kuruk, again he didn't know how he was, good or nice or understanding or just plain mean. As he had chopped, sweat had been pouring, he had really worked hard and had strained the muscle he had built up by running around the town, doing his laps, or by going to the natural gym which was an area that had a small forest of desert trees near Winton, a town that was now fully deserted, a ghost town which had been bulldozed a thousand years ago. Picking up rocks, tossing them, climbing the desert trees then doing leg-ups, pull ups or just swinging his fists at the barks of the trees, acting as if the trees were one of his opponents in a boxing arena. He might not have the big, burly body that his older brother had but in comparison to his two younger brothers, he was good and strong and he was damn proud of that. Dancing needed muscle, especially when the call in the dance came up to bring a lady up on stage to do a little twosome dancing on stage. Not only did dancing need muscle, so did his family. His brother and he did a lot of the heavy work, helping out when they could with the repairs. They had fixed the roof last year when Winter Storm Allie had blown through, dropping near five feet of snow onto the roof which had caved in at the front of their apartment. They had fixed the drains and gutters twice, sometimes the wind got bad in the area they were in and just blew them darn trees over, one had caught the gutter and had torn it right off but they had fixed it and had thanked the Universal Gods that it had just been the gutter and not the part of the house where he and Bile slept.

Hazaar and Lazeer did a lot to help around too, it wasn't just them that did the hard work. Hazaar sometimes did the grass, he had fixed the pipes under the house several times and he helped hand the boards up whenever something happened to the walls of their apartment or the roof. Hazaar had painted the outside of the apartment several times, he raked the leaves in fall and shoveled the walk and driveway clean of snow in winter. Although Lazeer couldn't do much because of his eye problem, he did a lot inside. He had helped redo the floor in the living room, he had done the full wall between the living room and the kitchen, he had totally redone the bathroom on the first floor and he had also put up numerous mailboxes, always when the sun was hidden behind clouds on the latter one. They all did their fair share of helping around the apartment, even their mother pitched in. Besides he and she being the breadwinners in the family but she had helped out quite a lot when it had come to fixing the pipes underneath the house, the sewer pipes which had surprised all of them. A woman working around dirty, filthy, shit-filled pipes... she was a tough ol' girl and they loved her oh so much. She also had replaced the windows several times, had kept the furnace going when it had conked out then had replaced it herself then had picked up a 2,200 BTU Air Conditioner herself and had put it up in the window when their central unit had gone out. He and his brothers had stayed ten feet from her after she had put the AC in, Lazeer had spinned out the jokes that she was Hercules Mom, defender of the household, conqueror of the 2,200 BTU Air Conditioner. When she had put in the new hot water tank they had done the same, Lazeer had cranked out the jokes again by saying he was afraid that Hercules Mom would grow into the Incredible Hulk's wife and crush them to death in her big, muscle arms of love. Of course, that had not happened, they were just a bunch of jokes. Their ma wouldn't dare hurt them, she had said so herself. She was a true momma, a woman who was just great at everything and they all loved her oh so much it hurt sometimes.

"Don't hog it all you freak!" Bile exclaimed.

"My cigarette, I can hog it all day long if I wanted to." Lhaklar replied.

Lhaklar took a drag from his Black Devil, he had four others in his silver case but he wasn't about to let that little secret out, not after Bile had kept him up all night like with his mumble sleeping. He had picked up smoking at one thousand, eight hundred and thirty years of age, he had started doing the Basic's then he had switched to Winston before he had seen a man in town smoking the Black Devils which he had thought were damn cool because the tobacco was housed in a black paper. He paid fifty bucks a week for ten packs of Black Devil cigarettes, by the time the week after when he went to the guy for more he'd have two packs left over from the week before. He didn't chain smoke, he wasn't like that, he only smoked to relax. Usually only one a day but when he was especially edgey he'd smoke two but that was it. The age where one was allowed to smoke had been 18 in 2013, it had changed several times to 21, 25 then back to 21 and had stayed there for almost two hundred years before being changed back to 18, the man who he bought the cigarettes from thought, that since he was in his thousands, he was way above the limit to be able to smoke legally when, really, he was still a teenager. He took another drag from his cigarette, held it in them breathed the smoke out from his nostrils before handing it over to his brother, he had just taken four puffs from the cigarette and his brother was acting like he was keeping it all to himself.

"About damn time!" Bile exclaimed, he took a long drag then breathed out the smoke.

"You are an addict!" Lhaklar exclaimed. "You go crazy if you don't have something to clog your lungs. Need to slow down, cool it down and smoke only..."

"I'll make a memo on that dad." Bile said.

"Just saying it as it is. Every time I am with you you are smoking." Lhaklar said.

"I do not smoke all of the time like you say."

"Really? Whenever I'm with you..."

"So what! We're brothers and let it out together. That's how it's suppose to be, we have a mutual interest and we share and team-up with it." Bile exclaimed, he handed the cigarette back. "You're one to talk anyways, whenever you are with me you smoke as well."

"You go through wah-..."

"One cigarette is not called an addiction, Brother."

"And a joint."

"So what! You've smoked them with me as well."

"That's two..."

"Send my bill and my punishment slip in the mail." Bile held his hand up, palm flat towards his brother. The gesture was an old one that the humans did, it meant talk to the hand, I'm not listening anymore so just talk to my hand.

Lhaklar took one more drag from his cigarette then handed it back to Bile, he shoved off from the side of the boarded up restaurant that use to be What-A-Burger and began walking off. He had kept what Bile's father had said about him being the only son of his father to of survived to himself although he had nearly broken down and spilled it out twice. It was effecting him, eating him up inside that others thought that his younger brothers were dead. Bile seemed to of accepted it quite quickly but he just couldn't, if it had been Bile who had been said to be dead but really wasn't he'd also feel low and be broken up inside. Hazaar and Lazeer were damn annoying at times but they were his brothers, they didn't deserve to be written out of anything. Hazaar had wanted to come with them to Winton but he couldn't, he had accidentally broken a window in the apartment by having one of his temper tantrums, one of them things that he sometimes had because he was going through a lot in his life at current. Mother had put him on house chores for the broken window and had said that he could replace the window, the poor kid would be doing chores for three more days before he would be let off of the hook. Lazeer had stayed in his and Hazaar's room for the past two days, he was doing another of them depressed things he had been doing these past three hundred years. He and ma were doing all that they could, between the two they had saved up over five hundred dollars, although he thought that what they had saved up in the two weeks was pitiful he would never let it out. His thought wasn't trained on his mother, she worked hard and had work at home them as well so she basically had a double job, he was training his thought on himself. He had a good mind to head to the big club located in Rock Springs, there he had been told a dancer could make seven hundred a night, although that would put them still down what they needed it was a better go that his pitiful three hundred dollars that he brought home every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. There was just one problem with the big club in Rock Springs that kept him from heading there though. While Kale's World had separate areas for dancing, where the men would dance in one area and the women in the next and was a full separate orientation building, the club in Rock Springs was set in all one place. Dancers danced outside, in the open where everyone would see them and there were no regulations. He was straight, he had no problems with people that swung either way or were simply for their same gender but he did have a problem with having his own gender looking at him. It made him feel funny, it made him feel uncomfortable.

"Bile," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Is there any way you could possibly get a job or something?" Lhaklar asked. "Help in getting some money together for Lazeer or..."

"You are not suggesting I shiver and shake my goods, are you?"

"No,"

"Good cause I do that only once a month with the local girls." Bile said. "You do the wag, I'll keep the clothes on."

"I'll remember that when the baby is plopped on our doorstep." Lhaklar said.

"Why do you bring up me getting a job, L?" Bile asked, he rarely called his brother by just the first letter of his name but he figured that at that particular time he should just let it out.

"Ma and I have only saved up five hundred dollars, we need one thousand, six hundred more." Lhaklar said. "Lazeer needs his glass and soon, I'm afraid that if we wait anymore he'll get so depressed to..."

"He would do no such thing!"

Bile snubbed out the cigarette that his brother had handed him and that he had smoked to the filter then ran forward and grabbed Lhaklar by the collar of his shirt. He shook his brother hard then released him, just his brother saying what he was afraid of had sparked up a fear and anger within him. Lazeer had gone back to his depressed state, he had had to wrestle him out of his bed three times these past few days because he just didn't want to get up and their mom had had to tell Lazeer to cheer up several times. He had walked around looking down at his feet these past four days and had been caught mumbling something which had sparked Hazaar to scream for the Heavens for mom to come quick. Whatever it had been, their mom had had a good talking with their little brother and it had sparked up some tears from Lazeer. The kid was really upset. Their mom had voiced that she really didn't want Lhaklar to be working, when he had started saying that he wanted to help out with bringing some revenue in she had said that she wanted him to be work-free, to be free to run around and be a kid which he was. Lhaklar had insisted though and had gone and gotten himself that fabled job at the food mart called Walmart as a cashier, their mother was still on his case about quitting although she was proud of him for trying to help out. Bile knew that she was worried that his brother would become stressed from the workload from work, or lack there of since all he really did was show up at Kale's World, strip his clothes off and dance his self off to the ladies, and just go to pieces. After Lhaklar had gone and gotten his fabled, cashier job at Walmart their mother had sat them all down and had put down the law. No one else was to get a job, no buts or ifs or why nots, it was just the law. She had said to all of them that since she was the adult it should be all on her shoulders and since they were her kids they should be going around and acting as such. Just as Lhaklar pushed him away Homsi and Losal teleported in. The appeared on the other side of the building, out of sight but not out of earshot.

"I fear that Young Master Hazaar perished during on of the plagues here." Homsi said miserably. "I've seen very few humans on this planet, on average about two hundred maybe."

"Young Master Hazaar was a hundred years old when Mistress Angel disappeared with him and his brothers, he might have perished from something else." Losal said equally miserably.

Losal and Homsi had gone into a state of shock after seeing Table Rock and James Town, when they had seen the appearance of Purple Sage and Little America they had gone into near panic. Purple Sage had been the only town that they searched that had a good-sized human population. The town was a little better in building structure than the rest of the ones that had visited and searched, there had been a handful of restaurants, a library, a guy, two food markets and two farms. In all, they had seen around a hundred to a hundred and twenty humans in that town with only seeing five humans in Little America, two families, consisting of five adults and around five or six noticable children per family, in James Town and five humans in Table Rock. They had watched a program on Earth a few days earlier which had said that quite a many human families had gone back to their animalistic ways, back to acting like the cavemen that had once been on the planet before modern man had evolved. Ten ice and snow storms had frozen many, there had been a drought that had last almost a hundred years after that which had claimed quite a lot of humans through either starvation or dehydration and then the plagues had struck. It was estimated that only a billion humans were on the planet now, from what Losal and Homsi had seen they highly doubted that. Both Goblin men saw their master's wife struggling to feed not just herself but her three son's, struggling to keep them warm in the snow and ice storms, struggling to keep them all hydrated during the droughts and then struggling in dire fear to keep them alive during the plagues. In sadness, they both thought that their master's wife could very well of lost Hazaar during the struggle during the bad periods on Earth. Homsi pulled Losal to a stop, he leaned against the building that was boarded up and sighed.

"Master Tazir needs to find Mistress Angel and Young Master's Bile and Lhaklar quickly," Homsi said. "this isn't the place for them, too dangerous. The air could very well be contaminated, the water could very well be contaminated and so could the animals."

"I agree with you, when did the last catastrophic event strike on this planet?"

"Program said that the Plague of Mosquito's had struck about two hundred years ago. Planet hasn't had anything else happen since except for a lot of the landscape taking over what use to be human occupation zones." Homsi replied.

The program had said that the Plague of Mosquito's had been especially deadly, a species of mosquito from Africa had migrated up to Europe carrying a strand of Malaria on it which, after the mosquito's had begun biting humans and livestock had evolved to a very dangerous strand that the human scientists had said carried not only the Malaria disease but also dengue and yellow fever, all three of these had combined to make an especially deadly disease that had claimed almost two billion lives. Humanity had reached a population of four billion by the time the Plague of the Mosquito's had struck, it had taken two billion lives and then a further billion humans had died after eating meant contaminated with the disease. Homsi was glad that the air in the ships was clean and that the filters filtered out any diseased particles or harmful substances that could make the ones in the ships ill. Homsi took off his brown tuxedo jacket, he placed it over his arm and walked on, the temperature in the area was eighty-four degrees, he was very uncomfortable and so was Losal, who followed in his co-workers example and took off his plum-colored tuxedo jacket as well, he flung it across his back then followed Homsi as he walked around the building. By the time they had reached the side that Bile and Lhaklar were on both youngsters had gone off a ways. Bile had found a log that was sturdy and had propped it up so it was sticking up at the sky.

"Pop this baby in, Bro!" Bile exclaimed. "Give it a good pounding!"

Lhaklar, sans his brown and green striped, long-sleeved, button down shirt, swung his fists hard. His brother had suggested that they vent out some, get some of the pressure and stress out of them about Lazeer by finding something to pound on. The log was a decent punching bag, it was hard but he didn't mind. By the time he had swung his fists ten times he was having gun. He swung, jumped to the sides then back acting like the log was a boxing opponent then began casting out his cat-calls. He did have a lot on his shoulders, working at the club to bring in money for his family, save up money for Lazeer's glass, deal with his own problems and, of course, worry about their mom. As he swung his fists, making them get all bloody and broken up, he imagined that the log was his problems. He swung his fists against the log a full twenty minutes before backing off, he was winded, he was sweaty but dammit he felt good and free inside. He felt as if he could leap off of the ground and fly. Bile swung his arms back, grabbed the back of his shirt then pulled it up over his head. He tossed it to the side then took his turn at pounding on the log.

"You did boxing in Pronghorn, right?" Lhaklar asked his brother as he beat the log.

"No, wrestling." Bile replied. "Wrestling and track."

"You should consider becoming a wrestler."

"I did, didn't go as well as I had hoped. Human that I picked to wrestle with went down in just one swing."

"Must have picked out a human that wasn't as physically able as you then." Lhaklar said.

"He was six-foot, seven inches tall and weighed nearly three hundred pounds." Bile said.

"You picked a human taller that you and nearly weighing fifty pounds more and he still fell after one punch?" Lhaklar shook his head. "I'll remember not to piss you off anymore."

"You needn't worry, I don't hurt the ones I love." Bile said, he turned around and faced his brother. "That includes you."

"I thought you despised me?"

"I have never despised you," Bile said. "you get on my nerves sometimes but that's how it's suppose to be. Brother's aren't suppose to meet eye to eye all of the time."

"Quit your mumbling when you sleep and I won't get on your nerves so much." Lhaklar said.

"Man my mumbling is a far cry from what you do at night." Bile said, he slightly pushed his brother. "I practically have to open a window to get the stale air out."

"That's a lie! You drive me out with your fowl stench."

"That's you, not me."

"Nuh uh!"

"Yuh huh!"

The conversation that followed was one that would of made their mother stop in her tracks, turn around and go some other place. It was talk only brother's would understand. Who stank the room up more, who made the other sleep less at night with their winding winds of fowl smells, who wished he could toss the other out of their room on the first fart and who wished there really was a plug, either of the rear end kind or the nose kind. The brother's ended their pounding on the log, collected their shirts and walked off. Both felt better, both felt as if they had gotten a lot out of them by swinging their fists and, although neither knew it at the time, both had very bloody fists. Lhaklar's bluish colored blood dripping from his knuckles, mingling with the blood that trickled out of his fingers then dropped down to the ground while Bile's reddish-green blood dripped from his knuckles, down his fingers and made drip trails in the dust of the sidewalk that he was walking on. One of Bile's fingernails had split but he didn't notice it, neither he nor his brother would know of the state of their hands until after they got home and then, it would be their mother who would see their hands and direct their attention to them. Perhaps it was fate, perhaps it was destiny, but Homsi walked around the corner just as Bile turned around and began skipping back like a maniac. Bile tripped over the Goblin and fell hard to the concrete, his head hit so hard that both Lhaklar, Homsi and Losal heard it as it snapped back against the concrete surface of the sidewalk.

"Young Master..." Homsi yelled out in shock.

"...Bile!" Lhaklar finished for the Goblin.

Lhaklar turned on the Goblin, Homsi had no chance to protect himself before the six-foot, one inch son of his employer swung his fist down at him then kicked him back. Just as Lhaklar jumped on the Goblin and began swinging his fists, wailing all the while that he should have known better than to attack his brother, Losal ran up. Losal noticed how strong the son of his employer was, his back was good in decently rolling muscle, when he wrapped his arms around the youth's middle he felt a firm six-pack then when Lhaklar turned on him he saw that the youth had a good and nicely chiseled chest. His arms were good in muscle, the youth really did look quite a lot like his father except for the fact that he had mint-green skin and Pistachio-colored eyes. Before Lhaklar could swing his fist into the Goblins face for the fifth time he was ripped up and off of the man. Bile had recovered, he had gotten up, had given his head a good shake to relieve the pressure and headache that he was experiencing then had rushed forward to grab his brother. With his brother thrashing around in his arms, Bile teleported to the edge of the shield around Green River, Wyoming then he turned and went in. He went to the abandoned Walgreen's building then put his brother down who shoved him away then turned on him.

"Why did you do that! Why did you tear me away from that guy?"

"Mother..."

"So what! He hurt you, that one guy grabbed you by your leg and..."

"I tripped over him. He didn't grab me, I tripped over the guy."

"Mother was right, mother is right!" Lhaklar started to shake, he had gone from being the defender of his brother to being downright scared out of his wits. "Mother... oh shit! Our shirts!"

"Fuck our shirts." Bile said. "I've got a major headache, can we go home now? I've had enough for one day, that fall took a lot from me then having to grab you on top of it has me..."

"Are you sick?" Lhaklar now got worried, he ran over and began feeling Bile's forehead. "Are you okay? D-do you think that fall messed anything upstairs?"

"Lhaklar! Stop it man!" Bile slapped his brother's hand off of his forehead. "I'm fine, just have a headache. Home, ma, some good food and some rest and I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"I am positive."

"Okay... but if you..."

"Ma will take care of me, she always has." Bile said, he then turned around and began walking off for home, Lhaklar walked at his side, keeping close just in case he was needed to help his brother.


	15. Chapter 15

"My goodness, every time I see you boys you seem to of grown bigger and taller!" Granny D exclaimed.

Lhaklar was still a bit worried about his brother, Bile had come inside and had, basically, been momma attacked. Mother had seen his hands and had freaked, she had demanded to know what had happened, which wasn't anything but a little punching match with a log to relieve pressure and stress, then her eyes had landed on his hands then she had started her fretting on him. They had explained what had happened, where they had been and then, very carefully, they had explained what had happened with the two Goblins. Out had come the bottle of alcohol and a rag, their mother had poured about half of the bottle on Bile's hands then had done the same to his then had ordered them to remain where they were. They had stood in front of the sink, their hands stinging them and festering out white stuff, the infection, for all of two minutes before she had returned with the rub and bandaging. Bile's hands had been thoroughly wrapped, he looked as if he had mummy hands now, and his hands looked exactly the same but neither of them had gotten into trouble. Although they had been outside of the shield they had been in an area far from town where they had thought that they were safe, instead they had been ambushed by the Goblins. Bile had explained that, after his hands had been wrapped, why he was headed upstairs for a nap. He had conked his head good on the concrete sidewalk, it had made him feel right drained and sleepy. Their mother had constantly gone up and down the stairs after he had gone up to take his nap to check on him. He had woke up at around midnight with one of them good ol' splitters, one of them headaches that made it seem as if your head was going to split down the middle or worse, just explode. Lhaklar had shot out of bed then had raced downstairs to get their mother, Bile had been given something for his headache then he had gone back to sleep. Now, the morning after having his head nearly cracked open, of nearly having his brains ooze out from the cracks in his head after falling back on the sidewalk in the deserted town of Winton, Bile was acting a bit confused but he seemed fine. He had the same problem as he did, though. His hands were damn sore after pounding on that log, came with the territory of punching something that was hard, something not appropriate for punching. Lhaklar, who normally didn't do such idiotic things like punching logs, felt ashame of himself. Normally, it would be just their mother they'd see when they walked into the kitchen in the morning, Hazaar and Lazeer would follow after them as they were a bit slow in getting up but they found that on that morning they had been beaten to the kitchen by their little brother's and that there were guests in the house. Granny D, whose real name was Dione and who they sometimes called Dione, and their aunties, Perniceie and Azura, who they called by their real names but added Auntie in front of.

"Hi Granny D!" Lhaklar said, he walked up and gave her a hug which she returned.

"What have you been feeding these boys, Angel?" Granny D asked their mother. "Getting so big!"

"Just the normal stuff plus lots of spoiling extras." their mother replied, she was leaned back against the sink. "Seem to of grown in their sleep, I been needing to check the hotlines sometimes when I see them, getting to where I can't recognise them in the mornings."

"Ma!" Bile said, he then managed a chuckle.

"Let me guess," Granny Dione had one of Lhaklar's and one of Bile's bandaged hands in each of hers. "you two had either a fight, one of them brother brawls, or you two decided to do some punching on something you shouldn't have?"

"Punched a log yesterday," Bile said. "good way to release the pressure and stress. And let out all that pent-up anger."

Granny Dione, or plain Dione, was their mother's great-great grandmother which made her their great-great-great grandmother but she looked none of what her title said she was. A human of her age would be aged, wrinkled and would either be walking around feeble, with a cane or be in one of them robotic wheelchairs, Dione was none of this. She was young-looking and she'd always be because she was immortal, like them. The only way she could cross over to the world of the non-living was if someone killed her. Granny Dione had elongated ears that ran the full length of her shoulders, they were feminine and slender and were a light blue color and had black, Tiger-like stripes on them. Her face was gentle and smooth, there was not a hint of age on her. The left side of her face, and body they were sure, was yellow while the right side of her face, and body, was light blue. She had white eyes that had small, black pupils in them and long, deep purple hair that had gray and white mixed in, the gray and white were not age showing as she had been born with her hair being colored in this way. Her lips were lipsticked the opposite of her face colors, the left side being light blue while the right being yellow, she had white eyeshadow on her eyelids and black mascara around her eyes. Granny Dione was wearing a long flowing, but tight, maroon dress that had black ties and bows on it, she had maroon colored high heels on her feet which had bows on the side. She had been the first that he and Bile had seen after arriving on Earth. Their mother had taken them to a place in Egypt then had walked with them through a tunnel to a castle that was underground that had been built by the woman many thousands of years ago after she had come to Earth with a piece of the Dacops Crystal that she had stolen from her father who happen to be Bile's grandfather and his uncle. Although he and his brothers accepted her for who she was and for what relation she was to them and did act nice around her, he and his brothers thought of her only as a family friend.

"Lazeer looks like he is well." Auntie Azura said. "How is he? Was you able..."

"No, we've saved up five hundred so far but need more than twice that for his glass." their mother replied. "He's been depressed, have had it out with him a few times, but he's managing to hang in there."

"You've saved five hundred in just two weeks time?" Auntie Azura asked. "That's good, he'll have his glass in no time."

"Really it's not," Lhaklar said. "wish it was more as I'd like for him..."

"It's better than nothing, Lhaklar." their mother cut her son off. She gave him a look to watch it which he nodded at. He sat down at the kitchen table.

Aunt Azura, or plain Azura, was the granddaughter of Granny Dione and the great-grandmother of their mother. Again, despite the title, she looked very youthful. She looked human, had it not of been for her slightly elongated ears that were darkly tanned and had a single black, Tiger-like stripe on them she could very well of passed off as a human. She had moss-green eyes that had light gray pupils which were tiny, the ends of her hair and her bangs were blonde while the rest of her was as black as night, it flowed down almost to the floor. The left side of her face, and body he and his brothers all presumed, was darkly tanned while the right side of her face, and body, was a bleached white color that made it almost look like she had spent quite a time lying half on a tanning bed. She was wearing a dark green dress, the skirt was of ripped design with the hem being black, she had dark green gloves that reached up to her elbows on her hands. Aunt Azura seemed, to Lhaklar and his brothers, the more quiet one of the trio of ladies that were related to them and their mother but she was very powerful and dangerous. Their mother had told them once that Aunt Azura had been slow in her training but by Granny Dione's capable teachings and patience, she had turned out A-alright.

"Every time I see Hazaar he's done something different with his rattail." Auntie Perniceie said, although she didn't touch his brother's hair she did have her hand held out towards it and that was enough for Hazaar to move away from her slightly. He had put just one braid in his rattail that morning, even Lhaklar had no idea how he did it but he managed to get the braid very tight and nestled within it was a red feather.

"He's still touchy with his hair, isn't he?" Granny D asked.

"He walks around with a sign around his front and back that says Don't Touch The Hair every day." Lazeer said. "It drives the ladies crazy but they walk off in despair when they can't run their hands through his luscious, deep purple, locks."

Although Lhaklar and his brothers and their mother laughed at this joke, Granny D and Aunt Azura and Perniceie stayed quiet. The three weren't much on joking and Lhaklar had once overheard Granny D saying to their mother that she really needed to kick his little brother's joking to the curb and quickly as it _had no place in the family_. This was mostly why he and his brothers didn't much seen the three are true family, this was why they saw the three women as more like family friends than family. Their mother accepted their brother for who he was, the jokester in the family while the three women saw his jokes and his joking around as nothing special, something that simply needed to be cast out like trash in a trashcan. Auntie Perniceie looked slightly like her mother, Granny D, except that she had ears that were slightly sticking out of her head. Her hair was long and was white, the bangs were brown and she had hazel-colored eyes that had tiny black pupils in them. The left side of her face, and body, was purple while the right side of her face and body was black, her ears were black and had just two, Tiger-like black stripes on them. She was wearing a unique two piece Arabian belly dancer costume; the bra was light purple with sequins of gold and the pants were near see through, the fabric color was the same as the bra piece but was shinier, the band around the waist was black with gold designs on it, she had nothing on her feet. A see-through veil was placed over her hair, it swept back, going almost the full length of her hair which went down to her lower back. Aunt Perniceie's stomach was uncovered, this allowed for him and his brothers to fully say that her body was bi-colored as well.

"So, who all have they seen?" Granny D asked, Bile and Lhaklar both automatically knew that she knew that they had been off visiting the camp beyond the shield on the shore next to Expedition Island. Bile crossed his left leg over his right, he leaned back as if her question meant nothing.

"As far as I know, Bile saw his dad and Lhaklar saw his." their mother replied. "And they saw two Goblins yesterday."

"Just them? No others?" Granny D asked.

"I'm sure that they were seen by others, they either just haven't told me or haven't yet remembered who they were."

"You two should really stay in the shield, them people are dangerous. Bile, especially your father." Granny Dione gave Bile a hard stare that made him feel both chilled and a trifle bit angered inside. "Knowing them, they'll take you boys off of this planet away from your mother and your brothers. They'll take just you two and leave the rest."

They probably would, Lhaklar thought. He was automatically met again with the thought of the man who was his grandfather but who wouldn't... or couldn't bare the saying of calling him his grandson saying what he had about him being the only child alive that had been born to his mother and father. Granny D went on for a few more minutes, rambling on and on about how they should be careful and how they should stay inside the shields at all times then they got up and said their goodbyes then teleported out. So much for a visit, this was how they worked their visits. Come over, say hello to him and his brothers, gush over him and his brothers for maybe five minutes then sit down and start acting as if they knew it all not to mention acting like they were all three their mother. With the Witchey sisters gone, everyone settled into their normal morning routines. Lazeer went back to being depressed for only five minutes then settled down and went on joking. Hazaar looked out the window, looking at nothing but looking as if he had something deep on his mind while Lhaklar and Bile just sat back in their chairs. Their mother made honey pancakes and sausage for them, they ate quickly then dispersed. Before he and Bile could head out, Hazaar called them over to the side. He could be quiet at times, he could be mean at times, he could be pestersome at times and he could also be funny at times but at the moment, he was just purely curious. He handed over a camera, a small black camera that had a clip for two hundred pictures, then he walked off. They got the message, if you're headed out of the shield can you snap some photos of what's in the camp. Due to mother being in the house, he couldn't have asked, he'd of been heard if he would have. Bile looked down at the camera, sighed then shoved it in his pocket.

"I really don't want to go out of the shield today." Lhaklar whined, he had followed his brother out of the apartment, had teleported along with his brother to the trainyard and was now just walking alongside Bile. "I've had enough of running and fighting them."

"Then stay in the shield," his brother said, he then walked on, away from Lhaklar. "not only is this for Hazaar, but it's also for mom. She has a right in knowing who all..."

"She probably knows who all is in the camp!" Lhaklar yelled. "All you're doing is heading into trouble! You'll be caught... they'll take you away then..."

"They will not." Bile said.

"They will!" Lhaklar yelled. "What is it that you want to see? A bunch of people who hurt momma, some so badly that she got scarred up? Family that hurt our mom?"

"I want answers, who they are and why they are here and what they want."

"Us! Bile, they are looking for us. You, me and mom. They want us and who cares who they are. All they are is trouble!" Lhaklar shouted.

"You coming or just hanging back?"

"I am not going out of that shield and neither are you." Lhaklar said, he stood with his legs slightly apart, he stood looking dead serious.

"Gonna make me, Tough Guy?" Bile asked,

Bile then walked off. Lhaklar ran after him, he grabbed his brother by his arm and tried to get him to stop, he ordered him to turn around but all that got him was a punch in the face and a shove back. Bile went by the train cars then he walked past the guard station, up the tall hill then exited the shield and disappeared. Lhaklar stood still, fear and anger crept up inside of him. He thought about going back to get his mother then he decided against it, he ran on after his brother, went through the shield then teleported to Expedition Island. His brother was not on the island though, Bile was on the bank. He had teleported near the tall, yellow grass and had walked closer, he was now standing ten feet from the camp. He was out of view, he was hidden from being seen by the tall, yellow grass that was in front and around him. With himself hidden well, Bile took out the camera, turned it on then began taking pictures. The camp in front of him looked nearly deserted, there were just a few Goblins walking around outside. He had just taken a picture of the Goblin that he had tripped up on the day before when the hatch on the kite-shaped ship opened. He began snapping pictures like crazy, he took out a piece of paper and a pencil while taking pictures and began writing down how many he saw coming out from the ship. By that time his brother had hidden himself in the forested part of Expedition Island.

"Good area here, I can see why she picked it as the location for her kids to grow up in." Gloar Rovnitov said after stretching.

"That's what I say, it's a very nice location where not only a kid could run around without being threatened but also it offers quite a lot of training ground." Tazir replied. "We've seen Bile and Lhaklar only a few times, we're only waiting for when they decide to mosey on over for another look-see."

"Can't wait to see them, from the security footage taken from when they were walking behind the ships they looked right healthy." Gloar said.

"They are, did I tell you that Losal got a good look at the muscle on my son? For one so young, he is right strong-looking."

"No, you didn't. You sound like a very proud pop old-timer."

"I am,"

"Just goes to show that old man of yours that you can pass on them good genes." Gloar said.

Being old school buddies and neighbors, Gloar Rovnitov and TazirVile Surfeit trusted each other greatly and were great friends. Gloar had the spare keys to Tazir's mansion, Tazir had a spare set to Gloar's just in case one or the other were out of town and needed someone to keep an eye on things at their homes. Unlike Tazir, who was a conqueror and had achieved his wealth, titles and reputation from conquering, Gloar had been born into one of them old money families. He had been born rich and was still rich, when his grandmother had passed away after going to a planet that was still gripped in a slight plague she had willed his father seven billion dollars, all of her assets and had also willed him the racehorse track where the Moas Derby was held every year. His parents had passed away after heading over to retrieve his grandmother's body, they had become exposed to the illness that had claimed his grandmother and just couldn't come home. Gloar missed them all greatly, he had done all that he could to get them lifted off of the planet that they were on then had gotten them cleaned then had had them buried in his family's cemetary. His parents had had two children, he and his sister who had been born weak and had died three days after being born so he was raised as an only child. When his parents had died all of their assets had gone to him by Law of the Family Inheritance then he had found that they had made out a will saying that he was the holder of their paper money, coins, collections, gold and so on. All of that, he had discovered upon six months after all of their deaths, had amassed to seven hundred quadtrillion dollars and due to the track bringing in revenue as well as the dog racing track and several areas where year-around fairs were held, he found himself practically raking in fifty million a day.

TazirVile had been fifty years ahead of him at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic when they had met and become friends, their dorms were on the same level in the same building, they had lunch at the same time and both had had two of the same class. Gloar had gone to only one other school with his old chum and that had been The University of Gray, by then his old chum had grown taller, stronger, both physically and with his powers as well, and he had already begun to show his smarts. After The University of Gray the two had kept in touch with writing each other, Tazir had remained on Gamma-Vile for a few thousand years then Gloar had sent him the letter describing Moas. In his words, he had said that Moas was somewhat drabbish with being part rock and part ocean and with having to buy and dump truckloads of dirt then buy and roll artificial grass over the rocks but it was all worth it because the land was very fertile, the planet was peaceful and who couldn't say they didn't like living on a planet when half of it was water where you could swim, do boat-like recreational activities like parasailing, deep-sea diving, fishing, surf or just race them good ol' offshore powerboats. He had been born on the planet, had been raised on the planet but he hadn't really been trying to sway his friend over, he had just been saying what all he had been doing and how the planet was. Tazir had written back asking further questions, he was looking for a place on a different planet to move to and live, Gamma-Vile had been his birth and raising place, it still had that nest-feeling to him which he had wished to get away from. He had needed to spread his wings and fly off, the following letter about the caves on the planet that housed millions of bats, the wild fish on the planet and about the help, which he had said was exceptionally great as there was a school that taught the most loyal of staff one could ever want was on the planet, had been the cincher for his friend. He had packed everything up, at the time his friend had been living in a very spacious apartment, living modestly, then he had appeared on the planet looking for a place to begin building. As it had turned out, his friend had set up shop two and a half miles from his place. The mansion had gone up, the land had been fixed up to his friend's wanting then the buildings had followed before the man had settled into his house. After that, his friend had gone somewhat quiet for all of six months, not saying a word to him and making him feel as if he had made a sort of mistake then he had read in the paper that his friend had just finished conquering the Vaisha Galaxy. Oops, his mind had ran off and he had thought something bad, his friend had been quiet for a reason. Tazir had been quiet because he hadn't been on the planet, he had been away making a name for himself. With the Vaisha Galaxy under his rule he had begun to grow very rich, despite his growing wealth they had kept their friendship going.

He was one of the Amwazar people, a being that typically was covered in fur that was either brown and black, light gray and dark gray or green, the latter being rare in the species that was from the planet Amwa in the Awamzie Galaxy. He had been born of the rare sort of Amwazar people, he had thick, green fur all over his body, he had stringy green hair with gray mixed in on his head, he had it combed over sideways at the moment but mostly he just liked to wake up, throw some water on his head then push his hair back and call it done. He was wearing a pair of black pants, a white, long sleeved, button down shirt and black shoes, a tie was around his neck but it wasn't made up yet. He had black eyes, above them was a brown unibrow, he was the first in his family that had been born with a unibrow which made him somewhat unique, although to his aunt he looked downright ugly with the unibrow his wife, Vixbie, adored his unibrow. Angel had once told him about the Sesame Street character that looked like him that had been called Oscar the Grouch and also of the character called Grinch in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, he had gone huh with the descriptions, although the Grinch-dude had sounded somewhat like him that Oscar the Grouch-guy had sounded quite a lot like him, when she had shown him photos of the characters he had cast out a joke, saying that he knew that them rowdy humans had been spying on him the past thirty-four years and that he was heading down now to collect his royalties.

"So, have you seen this other youngster? The one you saw on Zeta Ren?" Gloar asked his friend.

"I have seen hide nor hair of him for a while now." TazirVile replied. "Haven't seen Angel either, just Bile and Lhaklar."

"You don't think she..."

"I know my wife, she'd not abandon or kick out her kids." TazirVile said. "No, she's somewhere. Bile and Lhaklar just walk freely about."

"Have you seen anything of Hazaar?" Gloar asked. "Or Lazeer?"

"No... sadly I think she lost them two." TazirVile said this a bit hard, he looked out at Expedition Island for a short thirty seconds then walked on. "Think it's just Bile and Lhaklar... and whoever that one youth is."

"You bringing that unknown youth back home with you as well?" Gloar asked. "Do you think she and he are related?"

"She signed him in as her son and he refers to her as his mother. I have to, I can't see myself splitting a child from a parent." TazirVile said. "Even when I conquer, I make sure that families stay intact. None of that family splitting shit, I leave that crap to my brother and father and grandfather."

"Good thing as well, doesn't that help when you take over control of the planets in the galaxy?" Gloar asked.

"Yes, smooths it out. People already hating on you for taking over the planet, destroying things." TazirVile replied. "My brother, father and grandfather have had to quell hundreds of riots after taking over after conquering a galaxy, I've had to only quell thirty to fifty in my dealings."

"And that just shows how much more intelligent you are than they." Gloar slapped the back of his hand on Tazir's arm then walked off.

Just as Gloar turned and began saying hello and good morning to Ashaklar, Cheshire and Eshal, Trobrencus and his family exited their ship. Gloar had to shake his head at the head of the family, TrobrencusVile had taken one look at him then had started his "fancy" talking. Gloar had just to hear the words to know that the man swung both ways and he also knew that the man wasn't doing his "fancy" talking for no reason. Gloar had gone through one of them phases, many thousands of years ago he had had a male lover but then, after he had turned fifty thousand, five hundred and five years old he had gotten a change of mind. He had gone fully straight, had met his wife and had fallen in love with her, had gotten married to her on his fifty thousand, six hundred and second birthday and between the two of them they had created two children, a boy and a girl. Gloar just let the "fancy" talking go through his ears, he didn't return it. The guy was married, he had several kids and two grandchildren, ruled several galaxies and was like the rest of the Surfeits; filthy rich. TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit, clad in a pair of black pants, black shoes, a white, button down shirt with a multi-gray vest over the shirt that had light gray ties with a black lace tie that had a sapphire in the center in the shape of a skull. There was a black cape tied around his neck, it flowed behind him as he walked and he had a cane with him, it was a black cane that had a chrome wolf handle that curved around and bit the stick. Bahne told her husband that she was heading over with the women for a swim in the river then left his side, he watched her walk off then, when she was out of earshot, he walked up to Gloar.

"Hello sweetheart," he said.

"Trob,"

"Not much big on conversation are you?" TrobrencusVile tapped the end of his cane against Gloar's shoe then brought it up, Trobrencus made a face at the state of the man's attire. "Don't have much of a wearers mind, my dear man."

"It's early and I do not like the idea of you bringing your cane up my leg. Drop it." Gloar said, the cane offended him as did the man insulting him.

"So you are the neighbor to the man who has one surviving son on this planet." TrobrencusVile said, he did as the man told him to and plopped his cane down on the ground. "What, really, is your purpose here?"

"I babysat the boys, I and my wife that is." Gloar said. "Family friend."

"That so, I took you as Mr. Tazir's lover for a few days there." TrobrencusVile laughed. Gloar scowled at the man then turned away, this gave TrobrencusVile his que to draw his cane back up along Gloar's leg. "So, you was also a friend to Angel? Or was it just Tazir?"

"Friend to both and I'm only going to say it once more," Gloar said loudly. "lower your cane and scram. I am in no mood for tomfoolery."

"Really now, with such an outfit as what you are wearing you look as if you are wanting some of it." TrobrencusVile smiled, Cheshire glared at the man when he tapped his cane up, between Gloar's legs. "And more."

Bile snapped pictures quickly, when the hatch to the ship that had a skull placed between a large coil opened and eighteen people walked out he got all of them on the clip, including Baruk and his siblings, then he snapped pictures of the people that exited from the ship that was skull shaped but had two elongated ears coming out from the sides, that included his father who had Thrax walking alongside him. He snapped a picture of ShaamVile then of DuruVile and his family as they exited from their ship that was shaped like a bat's head. He took at least a hundred photos then he got up and moved off. When he had seen Bahne walk out from the ship that was long and shaped like a cane he had gotten antsy. He followed the woman that was fully skeletal in form down to the rivers edge then his jaw dropped. He held the camera up and got some film of the women as they swam in the river but his eyes staying on Dara Dara. Besides his mother, he had never seen anyone so beautiful before in his life. The woman had bright blue crystal shards surrounding her face which was light blue, long, light blue, almost white wavy hair and long and curled dark blue fingernails. She was wearing a light blue swimming suit, on the shore was a long flowing dress of blue, purple and black synthetic crystal and blue heels. Just as he stopped filming the women swimming in the river he noticed that the woman he had trained his eyes on had a blue diamond ring on her pinky finger. Seeing that made him shiver, he shook his head then turned around. He walked off with his head down, he pressed the button to turn the camera off then he slid the camera into his pocket. Before be could look up he found himself flying through the air, TrobrencusVile had gone off after having a slight verbal tiff with Gloar to check on his wife and daughter's. When he had found Bile walking away from them, with a camera in hand, he had gotten angry. His drive to protect his family against the unknown male who had had a camera in his hand made his mind cloud up, he jumped on Bile without putting two-and-two together on who the youngster was and began punching him in the face.

Lhaklar's attention was quickly directed at the fight, he saw that his brother was putting everything he had into the man who looked very much like a Zombie that had attacked him and that sparked an anger to rise up within him. He charged out of the thick forest he had been hiding in, the same forest that he and his brothers had played in and had practiced their maneuvering abilities in, then he ran to the rivers edge. He ran a few feet then leaped into the water and began swimming, by the time he was on the other side of the river, the side that his brother was on, the women in the river had noticed what was going on near them and were screaming for the guy to stop. He ran right at the guy, wrapped his arms around the man's waist then heaved back, when he couldn't pull the man off of his brother he began punching at his backside then he grabbed the dark purple, braided ponytail that fell from the back of the man's head that had a black bow on the end and yanked it back. The man reacted by pushing himself up then swinging his arms back, Lhaklar was thrown clear from the man, rolled on the ground twice then got to his feet, that man had since gone back to continuing his assault on Bile, who now was very bloody in the face. Lhaklar swung his arms back then up, three ribbons of water rose out from the river behind him, in a quick shove of his arms forward he sent each ribbon of water at the man. The Zombie man was hurled off of his brother quickly, he bounced twice on the ground then slid to a stop. Before he could get up Lhaklar made two rocks rise up from the ground, he leaped up, twirled then kicked out, he kicked the rocks he had risen from the ground towards the man who, when he saw the rocks, shot his fist up. A shadow of red came out from the man's fist and made the rocks explode. Before Lhaklar could send another defensive attack a clear shield appeared around him and his brother.

"Bile..." Lhaklar dropped at his brother's side. "you okay?"

"Yeah," Bile turned his head to the side and spit out a glob of bloody spit then he wiped his face with the arm of his shirt. "yeah I'm fine. Nice handiwork with the shield."

"Didn't you put that up?" Lhaklar asked. "I didn't."

"No, I'm still in a daze here. Who the hell is that guy?" Bile began looking around.

"Good question, just a guy looking for trouble I guess." Lhaklar held his hand out. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah, yeah." Bile got up on his own. He shook his head then looked around. "I can stand, walk, talk..."

"How about run, my dear sons?"

Just as the men in the camp ran up and began shouting, asking what had happened then had seen Bile and Lhaklar in the shield, Bile and Lhaklar's mother walked casually into the shield. Irka and the other women, having dried off and gotten dressed as quickly as they could, ran up just as Lhaklar ran out of the way to avoid his mother's grasp. Angel Irene, the big ol' mother bear who was fiercely protective of her cubs and who happened to of become very angry at her two older son's for disobeying her orders again by visiting the camp that housed members of her and their family that had intentions of unknown origins to her, grabbed a hold of Bile's shirt then began pulling it, and him, about. Bile held his hands out, he did not dare touch his mother or try to defend himself, he had been caught red-handed. Angel Irene had been scouting the camp that housed her family, and her son's family, for all of three days, she knew all of who was in the camp and, although she didn't know the reason as to why they were all there she wanted her son's far from it as she deemed the camp's inhabitants as dangerous, especially her and Bile's father and TrobrencusVile. Just as she began yelling at her son's, TazirVile saw her and ran up to the shield. He began yelling at her, asking for her to come out and telling her that she and the boys were safe and had nothing to worry over. His yelling, though, went on complete deaf ears. In her rage, Angel had turned off her ears.

"What have I told you? I specifically told you to stay out of this area!" Angel yelled at her son's. "You trying to get yourself killed? Both of you! Both of you trying to get yourselves fuckin' killed?!"

"N-n-n-n-no m-m-mom..." Bile stammered.

"Lhaklar!" Angel screamed. "Get your green ass over here!"

"N-no."

"Get over here now!"

"Uh uh."

"Get over here, I'm not going to hurt you, come here."

"Let go of him, we disobeyed you and deserve whatever punishment we get but please don't grab us and throw us around."

TazirVile couldn't believe how incredibly beautiful his wife was still, after having four boys and raising the two older ones nearly on her own on a planet that had experienced so many bad things she looked exactly the same. She still had the fiery red hair, so red and glowing that it cast red off of the grass around her. She still had them lovely emerald-green eyes that had a golden-yellow ring around the black pupils and she still had that petite body. She had gone from wearing a size 38C bra after giving birth to Lhaklar to wearing a size 40C cup, she still looked that big in the breast department to him. Her hips were the same, her curves were the same, she still had that fine, feminine musculature to her which he knew was deceiving because she was stronger than she seemed and she still looked to have that fire in her. Angel let Bile go, she gave him a look then turned around and held her arms out to Lhaklar, she began beckoning to come forward, to come to her. Tazir knew exactly what she was doing, it was the mother's way to make her non-behaving children think that it was all alright, that she had cooled down and it was safe to come forward. His son took the bait and walked forward. Bad decision, Tazir placed his hands flat against the shield and got zapped back, he yelled out in startlement just as Angel grabbed his son by the side of his shirt then reached over and grabbed Bile by his shirt. Master Vile stood in the back in a sort of awed shock, the daughter that had spoiled his and her son had seemed to of done a full 360 and had gotten tougher on Bile. He saw this as a good thing, everyone else was yelling for Angel to let her son's go and to calm down but he remained quiet.

"You both deliberately disobeyed me!" Angel exclaimed. "What were you two thinking? Come here and think they won't find you? Come here, hide in the grass and think they won't walk by and see you? All of them are dangerous! All of them can injure both of you greatly... "

"I-I-I-I apologize mother," Bile was near to dropping to his skeletal knees, he had seen his mother mad from time to time, he had seen his mother really mad from time to time but he had seen her this way only three or four times. It was scary and she was scaring him to pieces and what was worse, there were witnesses. "I came here, he followed just to..."

"I don't give a damn! You both came here against me! You both disobeyed me!"

"I'm s-s-s-s..." Bile's fear overcame him, his legs gave out from under him and he dropped to his knees.

"Get up!" Angel yelled, she pulled her son up to his feet then she pushed him forward, she then threw Lhaklar in his direction. "You two head on home now. You're grounded."

"Mother..."

"A week, say a word more and you have a week added on. There's a mountain of dishes that has your name on it, Bile. Lhaklar, you have a big pile of clothes and the floors to clean up. I'll think up the rest when we get home."

"Mom..." Lhaklar said weakly, when she looked at him he hunched his shoulders then turned and teleported to where the shield began around Green River, Wyoming. He walked through the shield miserably then went straight home.

"Mom, it was me that had him coming here. Give me his punishment, it should all be mine, not..." Bile said, Angel ran at him and that made him teleport quickly. Once he was in front of the shield he ran in then he ran on home. Angel followed after her son's after she turned and glared at the family that had come to Earth to find her and her son's.


	16. Chapter 16

_Finally Sighted, Angel Irene seen with son's_

_After calling into Upegt Daque's show, Exposure Hour to give the tip to her adopted daughter, EshalVile Surfeit, as to where she and her children were located, Angel Irene became scarce for nearly two weeks. Although there were plenty of sightings of her two, very thought to be, surviving children, Bile Vile and LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit, Angel Irene was not seen for a short while. Angel Irene exploded into her first known sighting just two days ago when she walked into a shield created by herself that she had formed around her two son's. Apparently, her two surviving children were not allowed to visit the camp that houses the Surfeit, Vile, Ubalki, Hyunduzia, Doshluna, Verobari, Sebatu, Bedali, Iovides, Palus and Veonim families, who are all related to her and her sons, and Gloar Rovnitov, a close family friend. Angel Irene was apparently very angry at her sons and had them grounded, the three have not been seen in two days._

_Who is the Unknown Youth?_

_Angel Irene, Bile Vile and LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit have all been seen and identified, the unknown youth that was seen on Zeta Ren with Angel Irene has not been seen since his run in with Amadh Ubalki, the step-cousin of Angel Irene and the uncle of LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit. All attempts have been made to make an identification on who the youth in, fliers have been handed out and a hotline for information has been set up to find out who he is. All everyone knows is that he was signed in at Googles for All, a business owned and operated by Navub Babusa who is an optomestrist, with the name of Reezal Bakerly and was said to be a child of Angel Irene's. Does this mean that Angel Irene had an affair during her stay away from TazirVile Surfeit or could the child be related to TazirVile Surfeit? Angel Irene has been known in the past to of taken samples from Gamma-Vile's most secure building called the Sperm Ward, she has been known to of entered the building twice and it was after visiting the Sperm Ward, collecting five vials of samples that had her Universal Husband's name on the bottle, that HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit was conceived. TazirVile Surfeit is said to also be looking for the unknown youth, saying that he had no intention to break up any of his Universal Wife's family, which could very well include several illegitimate children. Angel Irene and her two surviving sons have not been seen or heard from in nearly a week._

_HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, is he still alive?_

_Although Bile Vile and LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit have been seen and have been said to look very healthy, there is still no word on whether or not HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, the secondborn son of Angel Irene through TazirVile Surfeit, is alive or not. He has not been seen nor has he been spoken of by the two thought-to-be surviving offspring of Angel Irene nor did Angel Irene say a thing on the youngster. The planet Earth has gone through numerous plagues and natural disasters, DuruVile Surfeit says it is highly likely that his secondborn grandson through his secondborn son perished in one of the plagues or natural disasters, TazirVile Surfeit had nothing to say on if his secondborn son through his Universal Wife perished in one of the plagues or natural disasters or not. Angel Irene, Bile Vile and LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit have not been seen for a week and three days._

_One Week, Five Days After Sighting, Report from Surfeit Camp_

_TazirVile Surfeit has been seding troops of Goblins into the surrounding towns of the counties around Green River Wyoming, a place on Earth that was hit especially hard by the Plague of Mosquito's that hit Earth two hundred years ago. With no sightings of Bile Vile, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit or Angel Irene, it is now thought that the trio, and the unknown youth that is thought to be with them, are living nearby a location called Expedition Island. Although nothing and no one has been found, TazirVile Surfeit is remaining hopeful that one day they will find something and that his Universal Wife, Bile Vile, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit and the unknown youth will be brought home._

"I looooove reporters! They're like broken fuckin' records. Report something then change it up for the next report." Bile tossed the newspaper he had been reading behind him. "That makes the eighth article in two weeks on us."

"Bet there's many more, these are just from that Zeta Ren planet." Lhaklar reached down and grabbed the paper that his brother had thrown behind him. He clipped the article out then slipped into his folder. "We should start charging for each article. Ten dollars per article written."

"Doubt if anyone would bite." Bile said.

They had been grounded for a week and three days, an extra three days were added after Bile had spoken after their mother had that more would be added onto their grounding if they had said another word. Their mother had discovered the camera in Bile's pocket and had demanded where he had gotten it, when Bile had admitted that it had been Hazaar who had given it to him their little brother had been added onto the punishment. Bile had done three days worth of dishes, Lhaklar had done four days worth of dirty laundry, Hazaar had been given the floor to clean for his including in the trip to the camp then their mother had said for them all to head outside for land clearing. Lhaklar had felled three trees in the backyard, trees that were too close to the apartment. Bile swept the sidewalk then he took everything out of the cellar, cleaned and dusted it all then put it all back in an organized fashion. Hazaar had been on brush duty, clearing the low-growing brushes, tumbleweeds and logs and sticks from the yard. That had all taken three days, their mother had found out something else for the three to do afterwards. While she had sat in a lounge chair in the front yard, Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar had all redone the shingles on the roof then had replaced the gutter. All three of them, as they had done their punishment-given jobs, had glanced down at her then had said that she looked like a Queen. Hazaar had said afterwards that she was, then he had said that they were her always and forever loyal subjects which all three of the boys had smiled and agreed with. After their week and three days worth of grounding and chores, their mother had let them off the hook. She had made all for of her sons a hearty breakfast the day after her three boys had gotten off of their grounding, all four had had a three-stack of strawberry pancakes placed in front of them then their mother had said she was kicking them all out of the house for a while. She had said that they had all had too much of the house and just needed to have some outside time. On the day after, their mother had started getting three of the same newspapers, a request of hers to Granny D so that her nosey sons could see what was going on. It was breakfast time, they all had sausage links, eggs and two waffles in front of them but before they had eaten anything they had all read the papers.

"So you know who all is in the camp?" Hazaar asked their mother.

"Yes dear, all of them I know... except for a few." their mother replied.

"Which ones are that?" Hazaar asked timidly.

"Some of the kids, possibly born after your brother was."

After Bile had handed Hazaar's camera, a Nik-54 Special that had cost a good hundred and twenty dollars, over to their mother they had not seen it for days. Hazaar had lamented the loss of his camera for a few days then he had found it on the table where he would sit to eat his meals. The clip was clear, no pictures were on it so they had figured that their mother had cleared the clip during the five days she had had it. A day after their grounding had ended they had found envelopes on each of their beds with the pictures that Bile had taken placed inside. Their mother had gotten each picture developed four times then had written on each of the backs who the person in the photo was and what relation that person was to them. There had been a total of six photographs in the envelopes that she had not written on, they all had guessed that she didn't know the ones in the photos and had left it at that. The picture of TazirVile had been the first one that they had ever seen of their father, both had been too young to remember who he had been or what he had looked like, both knew now. Lazeer had the picture of his, Hazaar's and Lhaklar's father and Bile's adoptive father in his hands, he was noting the glasses that the man was wearing.

"So he is where I get my bad eye from?" he asked.

"Yes dear. Although you got the better end of the stick. He has the severe ailment, you have the mild." their mother replied. "And it effects both of his eyes."

"Although I don't see me getting the better end of the stick, I am glad it's just in one eye that I have problems with." Lazeer put the photograph away.

"He also has skin that burns easily. If he is outside for real long periods of time, like over four hours, his skin gets burned." their mother said. "Has to put on a lotion and cream and take a medicated bath. Poor thing."

"Mom's still in love with daddy." Hazaar plopped his elbow on the table then placed his head on his hand, he gave a lovey-dovey look to his mother who rolled her eyes.

"Yes, honey. I still love and am in love with you daddy."

"I'm glad I didn't get that skin problem, I can be outside for more than four hours and not have my skin get burned." Lazeer said.

"I'll be honest with you, Lazeer. I thought that you would have it. You went from having light blue skin as a baby to having periwinkle colored skin, glad you don't either. I have enough trouble at the moment getting you to get out of the house, don't need you lamenting over easily burnt skin now." their mother said.

"So... does this discovery of what pop has to deal with and worry over on a daily basis mean you'll stop complaining about your little eye problem?" Bile asked his brother.

"Hell no!" Lazeer crossed his arms and made a pouting face.

"You need a girlfriend, you are just adorable!" Hazaar teased his younger brother.

"I start leaving the house and you'll find all of them girlfriends of yours flocking over to me." Lazeer replied. "I'm cuter."

"I have more hair."

"Really?" Lazeer ran his hands over the sides of his head then around the back of his head. "I didn't notice."

"Women dig the rattail, the nineteen eighties are calling for you. They want their hair style back." Hazaar said.

"Man the nineteen eighties can keep calling, I was born this way and I am staying this way." Lazeer grabbed his fork and began eating his breakfast. "They're calling you as well, rattails were big back then, they fell out of favor after the early two thousand's."

"Really? I'll remember that tonight. I have a razor all ready with your name on it." the corners of Hazaar's O-shaped mouth curved up sharply, he smiled evilly at his little brother.

"Do that and your rattail will be waving hello at you from the flagpole outside of the library." Lazeer replied. "And probably buh-bye as well."

As she looked at her sons, Angel couldn't help but feel a pride swell up within her. When she had left Tazir she had thought that Lazeer might not do well. She had teleported all of them to Egypt then had walked to Dione's underground castle, when they had gotten their she had yelled out for Dione then had simply stood by, waiting for her great-great grandmother to come looking for whoever it had been that had disrupted the quiet of her home. When she had seen her all of the anger that had been in her face had disappeared, it had been replaced with shock then she had ran forward. If she had not of handed Lazeer over to Lhaklar to hold her youngest son would have been crushed in Dione's hug. Angel had gotten Dione to put her sons in a room so they could talk in private. She had explained everything, the reason why she had n't escaped, the reason why she was there now and then she had just sat back and waited. Dione had fallen in love with her sons, the woman had had a son at one time but he had been lost before she had give birth to him then she had had Perniceie. Her great-great grandmother had let her and her sons live with her for a few hundred years, the planet had been going through a plague so it was most unwise for her and her sons to be living above ground. It had taken two hundred years before she and her sons had moved out, the reason for this had been mainly on the catastrophic changes to the planet. Several plagues had followed, one after the other, then the planet had been struck by three category five hurricanes, three tsunami's, four very power typhoons and then three wars had been sparked. Another reason for her and her sons continued stay with Dione, Perniceie and Azura was because the three just refused to let her and her sons leave. She had only been able to leave by stealing away in the night, she had settled down in Oklahoma first then had moved her and her sons to Canada, another plague had struck so it was either move up to the colder regions or risk getting sick or worse, move back in with Dione, Perniceie and Azura who had found her and her sons after a few days had passed after they had left their place. The three had said that they had understood, they had said that she did need her space to be a mother and that it was time for the boys to get to know the planet that she had been born and raised on. Sometimes she wondered, she wrote them several times a week, always asking if they were alright and if there was anything wrong. Each letter had come back saying that they were full in understanding of what was going on and that they were not angry with her. Along with her sending letters to Dione, Perniceie and Azura, she had also sent letters off to Atlas.

That poor man had gotten really depressed after she had been captured, he had gotten so depressed that he had let his appearance go fully. When she had seen him he had looked like a completely different person, a slob in other words. Hair all grown out, mustache and beard that was so long, and walking around as if half there. With her back, he had done a quick change-up in appearance. He had cut his hair, shaved off the beard and mustache then had showed her around his stronghold. It was much the same, nothing changed except for a bunch of new buildings to accommodate the new members in the tribe. He had just two new children, a boy and a girl, and his harem was intact. The only one not in the stronghold had been Bathilda. She had been kicked out and had been said to be living in a cave in Greece. Angel had found her, they had talked things over and had gotten some clouds lifted between them then they had parted ways. Her fraternal twin sister, the woman who had raised her, was still alive, living in the same cave and looked very happy. She made a point in visiting her with all of her sons once a year, Bathilda didn't particularly get along with Bile, Hazaar or Lazeer but she seemed to be perfectly chummy with Lhaklar.

Lazeer had gotten stronger with each year, had it not of been for her natural milk she'd not have him sitting here at her kitchen table. They had been living in Green River, Wyoming for a little over three hundred years, the apartment that they lived in she had found in New York, it was old and falling apartment but it looked better than the small apartments in the town so she had flipped the ground under it and had made it appear in the town. She and her sons had fixed it up, they had practically all rebuilt it from scratch. Sometimes repairs did need to be made, since it was older than the other buildings in the town, but it was comfortable, she did wish that her sons had rooms of their own but she feared that if she had a place bigger that she'd been noticed. She was surprised that Tazir hadn't found her sooner, while her sons had been busy with the chores she had watched the program that had been aired a month earlier. According to the program, Tazir and the Ubalki's had been searching all on their own for quite a long time, everyone else in her family had dropped out of the searching and had gone back to their lives. Her grandfather had been said to of searched for her and her sons for seven hundred years then he had dropped out of the searching, everyone else had dropped out of the searching for her and her sons after two hundred years. Angel ate her breakfast then stood up, she collected the plates that she and her sons had eaten off of and took them to the sink. It had taken her a short while to get use to the dish washer, she used it but she mainly liked to wash the dishes by hand, they got cleaner that way. She put the plates in the dish washer then she put the silverware in the sink.

"Alright boys, you know the drill. Everyone out, house will be locked up tight so..."

"We're homeless!" Lazeer shrieked. "Someone save us! Our mommy is kicking us out!"

"Not that! Anything but that!" Bile dropped to his knees and grabbed for his mother's hands, she held them just barely out of his reach. "Please don't kick me out, ma. I'll be good, I wish to live with you forever."

"We'll all have to get jobs now!" Hazaar threw his hands over his head. "Not that!"

"I'll be supporting these slackers for the rest of my life if you kick us out!" Lhaklar was hiding the laugh that wanted to come out.

"You boys are insane!" Angel said to her sons. "Just plain insane!"

"We're your insane sons!" Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer said together.

"I have work to go to now, I'm locking this place up tight. I'll see all of my precious babies when I get off." Angel made her rounds, giving each of her sons a hug and a kiss then she escorted all of them outside, locked the apartment door then walked away.

"She says she's going to work but really, she's going to see her lover." Lazeer said, he didn't say this in a whisper, his mother heard him. Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar all gasped in shock at his words then stepped out of the way. Angel turned around.

"Yes, my dear, sweet baby boy. I am heading to see my lover. The cash register at Food Lion. Wish me luck now that I don't come home with a little brother or sister in tote." their mother said.

"That conjures up some very disturbing images, ma." Bile said, his brothers began laughing.

"See you all when I get back. Stay in the shield, I mean it."

"We will." Angel's sons said together.

Eldass stood just barely out of view of the humans while Homsi stood pretty much in view. He couldn't believe that the humans weren't noticing that there was a living, breathing Goblin standing by the refreshments, he had even seen Homsi taking one of the chocolate bars from the rack behind him, open it then begin eating it. He had seen this but the humans walking around had not, he couldn't believe it. In a sort of way to confirm that the humans couldn't see his co-worker, he pointed at a candy bar that had the words Cookies n Cream on the package then signed for his co-worker to throw it to him. The humans didn't even notice the candy bar being flung across the aisle, much less see him walking out of his hiding place to retrieve it when it landed just out of his reach, about two feet to his left. Master Tazir had groups of Goblins checking the nearby counties, when he had noticed that he had forgotten about the nearby city, which had gone from being a city to simply a town, of Green River he had sent him and Homsi to check through it. They had searched the eastern portion of the town and had found nothing then they had gotten angry and had decided to just get some information from one of the locals. They had jumped a guy on the corner that had just been standing around, acting as if he was waiting on someone then they had dragged him behind a building. They had roughed him up slightly, two back slaps, a punch then they had shown him a picture of their mistress and he had squealed. A lady of her type, he had said, works down at the local Food Lion on Brooks Boulevard. A memory spell had done the trick in making the man not remember what had happened then they had ran off to the place that the man had said a woman that looked like their mistress worked. They hadn't helped the man up, back to the corner or anything, they had just done the spell then had ran off. They had no loyalty to the man, there was no reason to be polite or nice or presentable. When they had gotten to the large, one level building that had a large parking lot in the front, a loading dock in the back and a sign over the top of the building that said in loud, red and yellow letters Food Lion, The Nations Best they had go to it. They had done the duck and run routine, run to a car, duck behind it then run to the next one. The sliding glass doors had opened when they had stepped on the black mat, they had wasted no time in worrying about beign caught on camera, they had just ran in and had hid. So far, they had seen around three hundred humans, either coming in or going out of the building, pushing their carts with their groceries in them, some had children, some had babies in the carts in a sort of car seat that was tied up to the basket part of the cart while others just walked around with a blue basket hanging from the crook of their arms.

Eldass made no fuss over being quiet, since the humans were being so daft in their surroundings and in what sentient beings were in the area with them that were not human. He opened his candy bar and took one bite, tasted right good. Had a white chocolate taste to it and it had chunks of cookie inside, he ate his bar then wiped his face with his kerchief. Although he had liked the candy bar, he wasn't much of a man for candy eating. Never had been, he might have an off candy bar or piece of candy every once in a while but mostly, he was a meat eater. Homsi, across from him, looked as if he was just plain eating the candy bars out of boredom, Eldass had counted five in the past hour and a half that they had been standing by the registers, all having a brown wrapper with the words Idaho Spud on the top. Seeing as he might as well eat one more before stealing off towards the section that had the word Deli in front of it, Eldass gestured for Homsi to throw him one of them candy bars. Homsi did so, Eldass walked over and grabbed it up then walked off. The candy bar was square-shaped, had rounded edges and had a chocolate coating that had coconut flakes sprinkled on top. The inside of the candy bar was what surprised him, it was a marshmallow. Eldass finished his candy bar at the same time that he slipped into the Deli section, at that time Angel walked in.

"Hey Charles," Angel said to the manager.

"You're late!" Charles Binkleton, a red-haired man with freckles all over his face and a pug-like nose said. "We've lost hundreds because of you, lost millions of customers, we've even had to chase down two punks but because you are late we couldn't catch them. That's a hundred thousand dollars off of your neck paycheck."

"Really? My inner clock and the clock on the wall above your head says I am right on time."

"You're no fun." Charles chuckled. "How're the boys?"

"Doing well, had to kick 'em all out this morning. They're all wandering around the town."

"There will be four babies per hour plopped on your doorstep." Charles said. "How in the world aren't you married or engaged or something? Surely someone with four sons needs a mature man in the house to keep things in order."

"A mother has her ways to keep not just her sons or daughters in order but also her husband." Angel said, she winked at Charles then punched her ticket in. She grabbed her Deli apron, a green apron with the words Food Lion Deli on the front and tied it on then she tied her hair back.

She had just shown up one day after the movie Disaster: Helen Erupts had been shown in theaters and had made billions. Charles Binkleton, then a college drop out who had said he wanted to be a drummer in a band then had switched to guitar before giving it all up, had nearly dropped his jaw in shock when she had walked in then had near creamed himself when she had asked about getting a job in the building. Surely, he had thought, after making Disaster: Helen Erupts after making the films Volcano Eruption, Shake, a strange title for a movie but it had been a great one on an Earthquake that had split the United States and South America in two, and Water Works, a movie on how the ocean came up and swept known civilization away, that she would be very well off but, apparently he had been wrong. Movie business was tough, she had told him, you had to spend days, weeks and sometimes even months away from your family. She had said that she just didn't like spending any time away from her sons but she did need a few hours to herself, to be with herself and a normal job was just the thing she had in mind to get. This gorgeous, fiery red-haired woman who cast a red glow off of the surfaces around her had given birth to four sons, all of whom were much older than a human and she, herself, was pretty ancient in age but looked none for it, in fact she looked no older than thirty-three, at best that was. Her kids, she had birthed out four sons, one who had a different father who also happened to be hers as well, were all very well-behaved, respectful and protective youngsters. They all did act in a protective manner towards their mother, they were very close to her and she was very close to them. He had hired her quickly, not giving any second thoughts to what he was doing or who he was hiring, and she had proved to be a very good choice for the Deli department. She came in on time most of the time, when she didn't it was usually because of the kids misbehaved or one had caught ill the night before and she had stayed home for a short while to keep an eye on him. Whenever she missed a day it was always because of her kids and their interests. The youngest two had caught the nasty flu that had been going around the winter before last, she had stayed home to tend to them. One of the older boys had gotten into some sort of fight the night before three years ago with a biker dude and had gotten pretty banged up, she had stayed home to look after him. He had to admire her, he had no crushes or anything on her but he did admire her. The reason for his admiration was because his mother had really not been there for him when he had been growing up.

Charles had been raised with nine other siblings, he had been born the third child to his parents of and thus, he had been one of the last ones of his siblings to get any attention as his mother had been giving her all to the younger children. His father had ran off after the last one had been born, leaving his mother to worry about a household of ten that had consisted of seven single children and two sets of twins, five daughters and four sons. Here was a woman who had four sons, two quite a lot younger than the other two, and she was raising them all on her own and was tending to them equally. His grandparents had set up funds in the bank for him and his siblings, he and all of his brothers and sisters had gone off to college but out of nine only five had graduated, he and one of his brothers and two of his younger sisters had dropped out thinking that they could make a name for themselves in other means, such as music, styling or some other wild dream that the young dreamed up and followed. He wished he would have stayed in college because his dream had been for bust and here he was now, living in a rat hole apartment, barely able to foot the bills and having a mediocre job in a food mart. So much for being a big time musician, so much for being that drummer you dreamed you'd be, so much for wanting to be a guitarist. He was twenty-nine years old and so far, he had done doodley squatt with his life except wake up, shower, get dressed then head down to Food Lion. He had no wife, no kids of his own and really he didn't want any. He was content with being a bachelor at the moment. Charles ducked down low after he dropped his pen after Angel Irene had walked out of the back, heading to her position in the deli department. He missed seeing the Goblin reach up and grab the leg of a full BBQ chicken. The Goblin yanked the leg off of the chicken then ducked under the hot cart and began eating it. Angel walked by the hot cart, looked down and noticed the leg of the chicken missing.

"Hey Christie, we still have our little menaces paying us visits from time to time?" she asked the blonde haired, blue-eyed woman behind the counter in her department.

"Unfortunately, yeah we do." Christie replied. "Why?"

"This chicken here is missing its leg."

"That's why we ladies have to wear stockings to work, the rodents have an appetite for legs."

"What's going on out here?" Charles asked, the conversation on stockings was just too much for him, he had to join in.

"Angel says there's a chicken over there sans its leg."

"Thought I told them rodents in the building to keep their little fingers off of the legs." Charles rolled his eyes, they had been having problems with mice for years and it seemed to only be getting worse every day. The traps in back of the store caught around ten mice every night not to mention whenever he came in every morning he'd find mouse droppings all over the store. It really was like the rodents had decided to throw a party when the lights went down and the humans went home. "Toss it out, the rats and raccoon's in back can have the thing."

"I'm glad it's just the mice that we deal with and nothing worse like them rats or raccoon's in back." Angel said as she picked the pan that had the legless chicken on it up. She walked to the back of the store, pushed the door open with her elbow then went past the still packaged boxes of cereal, the still boxed up canned good and then the freezer to the exit. She opened the door, exited that walked to the left and dumped the chicken in the dumpster. She turned around and went back into the store then stopped dead in her tracks. The door behind her had clicked shut but then she had heard the lock being turned. With a lump in her throat, the back of the store was pretty dim in the lights department and one of her co-workers had nearly been raped back here when she had gone to dump something in the trash five months ago, Angel turned around. What she saw made her pull back in shock, there was a Goblin standing by the exit door.

"Mistress Angel," Eldass said. "it is very nice to see you."


	17. Chapter 17

Angel looked at the Goblin that she had known one thousand, six hundred years ago in shock, this particular Goblin happened to be the longest employed by the man who had adopted her first child and the father to the three sons she had had after her first. The Goblin looked none different, he looked the same and had nothing evil in his eyes and that sort of calmed her down. Eldass walked from the door, that he had locked, up to her. Eldass had been a big help when she had been pregnant with Lhaklar, Hazaar and had also helped out quite a lot in her short pregnancy when she had had Lazeer in her, he had been rather kind and understanding. When the Goblin walked up then stopped in front of her she saw him reach into his front pants pocket. When he pulled out his communicator she snapped out of her shock state, she reached down and gently took the device then she leaned back against the freezer door. Eldass didn't act in any way violent, he didn't lunge for his communicator, he didn't act out or say anything. He looked at her in his still calm state.

"How'd you find me?" she asked.

"One of the humans in the area said you worked here, Mistress." Eldass replied.

"That so, what's your purpose here? What's the reason for you looking for me and my sons?"

"Mistress, Master Tazir misses you greatly and wishes to have you back with him. You and your sons."

"Took him a rather very long time to find me."

"He has been searching a very long time for you and the boys, Mistress."

She had really no idea what to do, she could turn and flee but then Eldass might well chase after her and create a panic in the store. He had locked the exit so if she ran to that he'd catch her, the time to undo the lock which stuck at times and him running up behind her were just too chancy. She was just glad that it was just her in the back room and no one else and that her sons were safe somewhere else in the town. Goblins were a tricky bunch, they could get into anything and that included shields, they could just walk in with no trouble at all and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them either. There were few that had Goblins in their armies and only two that had a full army of Goblins, one of the two happened to be Tazir. Angel tossed the communicator up in the air a few times, taking note of how Eldass reacted to the device that he'd either use to call in more Goblins or call in Tazir to relay where she was then she tossed it over at him, all he had done was watch her as she tossed his communicator up, he had said not a thing to her nor had gotten nervous as she had tossed his device up in the air. Eldass caught it in one hand, looked at her for a short while without saying a thing then pressed the button on the side of the little, box-shaped device that was black and had a large speaker on the top.

"Homsi, I have Mistress Angel in the back room. Storage."

"On my way."

"Surprised you didn't call up Tazir first." Angel said.

"I will do that as soon as Homsi gets here," Eldass replied. "he was in the front of the..."

"Mistress Angel, how nice to finally see you after all these years!" Homsi said excitedly after he had thrown the back doors open. The doors swung shut behind him, they latched on the padding as they were suppose to. Humanity had stopped using the type of doors that continued to swing back and forth after one walked through them, they had applied a padding between the frame which had a suction to it and held the doors tight.

"Hello Homsi."

"You have got two wonderful sons to be very proud of, I do apologize for tripping up Young Master Bile." Homsi said, Eldass and he now had Angel boxed in against the freezer door. "I hope that he was not hurt."

"Nothing to worry over, just came home with a doozy of a headache." Angel replied. "Concrete and heads do not go good with one another. He slept it off."

"I am glad he got over it and is okay," Homsi replied. "where are Young Master's Bile and Lhaklar, Mistress?"

"Not in this county." Angel lied.

Angel started thinking up the counties in the state quickly, she and her sons had moved to Sweetwater County, Green River, Wyoming three hundred years ago, just a hundred years before the Plague of Mosquito's had struck. She had thought about moving when the plague had struck but she had found that each of her sons were immune to the disease and that she, also, was immune after they had all come in contact with the mosquito's, her sons had been bitten several times and not a one of them had gotten sick and the same had happened to her, so they had remained. Nearby was Fremont County, it was too close to the one that her sons and she lived in so she decided to not say it. Fremont County had been very populated before the plague, it was still populated but it didn't have as many people in it as it had before the plague had struck. Sublette County was right beside Fremont County, it had been hit especially hard by the plague. Nearly all of the population in that county had been wiped out. Washakie County had been another of them especially hit counties in Wyoming, only three families had survived the Plague of the Mosquito's. Angel quickly settled on the farthest county from where she and her children lived, Park County was fifty thousand in population, had been a hundred and fifty thousand before the plague had struck but the county was slowly making a comeback, fifty years earlier it had only had a population of ten thousand.

"Park County is where we live," Angel replied, it had taken her only ten seconds to think up the county. She then attempted to throw the two Goblins off. "but I have no idea where my sons are. You know how boys are, once you tell 'em to go outside for a while they do so and they stay outside for a very long time."

"That's true, Daosi and Yhozah were like that." Eldass chuckled. "Aboshi says she wishes she could put a bell on Malmeen whenever he heads outside. Zardox as well, he's our youngest son."

"Oh, you've had more after Malmeen and Bamaia?"

"Yes, Aboshi and I had three more. Akavira, Lorboyan and Zardox." Eldass replied. "My father-in-law has been asking if we're planning on clipping anything lately."

"Ouch, man that's tough." Homsi cringed.

"What about you, Homsi," Angel looked over at Homsi. "any other children since your three?"

"No, we want more but right now we are sort of cramped." Homsi replied. "Maybe in a few more years."

"You still have and wear the ring?" Eldass gently held Angel's left hand up.

"Am I not suppose to? Am I and he still married or did he decide on a divorce?" Angel asked, she pulled her hand away from Eldass slowly.

"No, my Mistress. He has not divorced you, both of you are still married." Eldass said quickly. "I apologize my Mistress, I did not mean to upset you."

"You didn't, just asking is all, been a very long time." Angel replied. "Yes, I still wear his ring on my finger. I will be honest, I have taken it off. Showering with a ring is not the best of things to do. Messes the ring up."

"True, it does. Also makes for losing a ring very easy. Abara has lost hers several times." Homsi said, he then began to chuckle. "I've had to fish her wedding ring from the drain several times. She says it's her favorite sport to watch."

"Let me guess, she hangs over your back and starts saying all them to the right's, to the left's, whoops you missed its." Angel was now chuckling.

"Yes!" Homsi began laughing a little louder.

Homsi had to cool down after that, he wasn't able to get in contact with Tazir as quickly as he wanted to but he figured it was alright since he and Eldass had Mistress Angel in front of them and since she was safe and not in any danger. As soon as he got in control of himself he pulled his communicator out from his front pants pocket then pressed the button on the side down and told Tazir where he and Eldass where and where Angel was and the false information she had given then about where she and her sons lived. TazirVile was ecstatic, he was hooping and hollering over the communicator saying that he was damn proud of the two of them and for them to bring Angel out. This made Angel nervous, having Tazir telling his Goblins to take her out of her shield, away from her children, who she had not a clue of their whereabouts, made her feel threatened. Tazir sounded much the same, he had a kind tone to his voice but by him saying for her to be taken out of the shield that was around Green River, Wyoming where her sons were running around somewhere she automatically saw him and his little order as a threat. Homsi and Eldass didn't notice the change in her, she had stood up straight and was shifting from one foot to the other nervously. The two Goblins were just as excited as their master. Angel decided that at just that moment in time she had to use the bathroom, she relayed her little problem to Eldass who nodded his head then she went off. As soon as she was out of the back room she took off her apron. She went to the employee lounge, punched out, wrote the reason why she was leaving on the sign out sheet then exited the building. She had no idea where her sons were but at that particular moment she wanted to have them all near her. Besides her nervousness, she felt a trifle upset over both Eldass and Homsi not asking about Hazaar or Lazeer, due to her nervousness she felt that she and her sons were not safe. Luckily for her, a friend of hers was just driving into the parking lot. She ran up to her friends car, slapped her hand on the window of the passenger side of the vehicle which prompted her friend to unlock the doors then she opened the door and got in.

"You seen a ghost?" Casey Cooke asked when her friend got into the car.

"No, worse. I need you to help me find my sons." Angel said, she looked back at the building and saw that Eldass and Homsi had come out. "Go now!"

"Holy shit!" Casey exclaimed when she saw the two Goblins. She punched her foot to the gas petal, making it go down to the floor of her Mercedes Benz, then sped away leaving the two Goblins in a cloud of dust.

Due to the clouds overhead clearing, Lazeer was forced to hide in the thick leaved trees of the forest where he had followed his brothers. He hated having to hide from the sun, he absolutely hated it. Here were his brothers, play fighting out in the open while he was just sitting on a rock in the shade. He wished he could take a stick or something sharp and gouge out his eye, it really did bother him that he couldn't do what his brothers could out in broad daylight. At first, when he had been afflicted with the ailment, it had started low, he had only been slightly affected by the sun and it had stayed that way for a few hundred years. Three hundred years ago he had done his usual, had woken up, eaten breakfast then he had followed his brothers outside. The sun, when it had hit his eye, had sent a roaring volcano of what he called really spicy hot sauce into his eye which had made him shriek at the top of his lungs. He had dropped to his knees, had begun crying and begging for whatever it was that was hurting him to stop then he had seen nothing from his left eye. He had found himself blind and that had terrified him. Lhaklar and Bile had helped him up then had escorted him back into the apartment where they had put him down on the sleeper sofa then they had ran and called up mom who had already gone off to work. Although he was glad now for the explanation as to where he had gotten his eye problem from and that he hadn't inherited the severe-severe form of what his father had, he was still not happy. Bile stomped his foot down and a box shot out from under the ground, it was a long box, about three and a half feet long but pretty slim in width and it was dark brown in color. He placed it on the ground, opened the lid then took out a jade sword that had a gold handle and silver grips. Lhaklar and Hazaar followed in his example, they stomped their left feet down and their own boxes shot out from the ground.

Their mother had gotten a blacksmith on a different planet to make up four powerful swords for them, swords that were powerful and that would last in a battle against other powerful swords. The sword that Bile had been given had been named by Bile himself, he called it the Jad Cleddyf, which meant Jade Sword in Welsh. Lhaklar had been given a glass-like sword that had all sorts of blue dye floating within the glass, there were holes all within the swords blade and in the grips and pommel as well but, despite its name, his brother simply called his sword Glass Sword, despite its appearance it was very strong and durable. Hazaar's sword was unique, it had a long, straight silver coated blade that had a ruby on the end and a very elaborate gold and ruby handle, grip and pommel. Hazaar hadn't been able to pick his sword up at first, he had been rather young, around six hundred years of age, when their mother had given it to him but he had been told that the sword was his and that no one had a right in taking it or using it without his extreme permission. Hazaar had named his sword, when he had learned a few extra languages, the Rubinus Aureum Gladium, which meant Golden Ruby Sword in Latin. Not wanting to be left out, but knowing he'd have to miss out on the sparring and fooling around unless the clouds drifted in front of the sun, Lazeer punched his fist down at the ground. His own dark brown wooden box shot out of the ground into his hands. He opened the lid and took out his own sword that was nestled in among a cloud of purple silk. His sword had a diamond coated blade but the handle was of a snake's neck and head, the head of the snake happened to be open, a ruby tongue was curled up in the mouth and the fangs were gold, it was diamond encrusted, blue and red diamonds were all over the scales of the handle of his sword. He had named his sword Schlange Schwert, which meant Snake Sword in German.

Their mother had insisted on them learning other languages, she knew and spoke fluently in four, and knew the basics of one other, and had taught them how to speak her known languages well. He, Lhaklar, Bile and Hazaar all knew French, German and Latin, they hadn't needed to learn English as that was their basic language. She had then let him and his brothers pick another language to learn. Bile had picked Welsh for his fifth language while Lhaklar had picked Japanese for his. Hazaar had decided to wait a little while, after a few years he had settled on learning Greek, his mother had learned that language right alongside him which had been nice, they had gotten the feeling that she wasn't only teaching them but was also joining in and learning along with them as well. She had also learned Japanese and Welsh alongside his brothers. He had picked Dutch for his fifth language, by the time his two older brothers had gone off to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic they had gotten fluent in their fifth picked languages, he and Hazaar had already gotten fluent in Japanese and Dutch by the time Bile and Lhaklar had graduated then he and Hazaar had decided to learn the languages that their older brothers had learned and spoke fluently, by that time Lhaklar had begun attending The University of Telepathy. In all, he and his brothers knew and spoke fluently eight languages, English included, all of which they still spoke to that day.

It had not been easy on their mother to send them to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, she had had to really fork over a lot of what she had made from the films she had been a part of for them to go to the school. When he, Hazaar and Lhaklar had begun to show that they could do telepathy she had sent him and they to The University of Telepathy at the same time, it had been lonely for her, Bile and she had written almost every day, both he and she had missed them greatly. His mother had had to fork over a hundred thousand just for that education, after they had graduated from that school they had returned to Earth to be with their mother. There had been no other educations for them, their mother had given him and his brothers the option for a further education in other schools, she had showed the pamphlets and had said that wherever they wanted to go, she'd do all she could in her power to send them off to achieve their goals. He and his brothers had no interest in being evil, the other schools in the educational system taught the bad, mean or evil stuff so they had all mutually decided to not attend any further schooling and stay home and, besides, all of them could not bare to be away from mama for a second. Just having her away at work was hard enough, like Bile and Lhaklar, he and Hazaar loved their mom so much it had no word or definition to it. Bile and Hazaar began sparring with their swords, sparks flew as the blades met, while Lhaklar ran over to him.

"You alright?" his older brother asked when he got up to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lazeer replied. "Just wish I could be out there with you guys, is all."

"You will be, I'll be working the big club in Rock Springs in a few days."

"Lhaklar, mom would have your head on a plate if she knew!" Lazeer shook his head, even he and Hazaar knew what their brother was really doing in his job. They had been sworn to secrecy about it but they both teased him from time to time in secret about it something awful. "Why in the world do you want to rattle your flesh anyways? Don't you have enough girlfriends swooning over you?"

"Good money, well-earned money and money that is needed. You need that glass." Lhaklar replied.

"You and mama have saved up seven hundred so far." Lazeer said.

"I can make it fourteen hundred in one night," Lhaklar said. "after that, I'd just have to dance one more night then you'll have your glass the next day. That club in Rock Springs... dancers make up to seven hundred bucks a night."

"Don't be huggin' or kissin' on me or mama afterwards, I don't feel like getting a sexually transmitted disease." Lazeer said. "And I doubt if she wants one either."

"You are a sexually transmitted disease, Baby Brother."

They were brothers and like brothers all do, they picked on one another something awful. Some of their picking on's went a bit too far and they all made sure to voice that when that happened but a majority of the time it was just all said and done in a brotherly accepted fashion. He and Hazaar wrestled in their room from time to time, sometimes even he and Hazaar ganged up on Bile and Lhaklar for a tag-team match-up and sometimes, he, Hazaar and Lhaklar all ganged up on Bile. Bile sometimes went overboard, he was strong and he sometimes forgot his strength from time to time but they all made sure to keep him grounded. Bile could lift up a lot, he weighed two hundred and fifty pounds and could lift up two hundred although he did try to lift more than that. Lhaklar weighed a hundred and ninety-five pounds, he could lift a hundred and thirty and even he tried to act all macho in lifting up more. He had tried to lift up a one hundred and fifty pound weight once a few hundred years ago and had nearly torn all of his arm muscles in the process. Hazaar, weighing in at a hundred and seventy-eight pounds, could lift up a one hundred and twenty pound weight with a little bit of difficulty while he, weighing in at a hundred and eighty-one pounds, could lift up a hundred and thirty pounds. He had yet to try to lift up anything heavier, he was using his brothers and their little muscle pulling injuries as an example to not lift up more than he could handle. Bile and Lhaklar had wanted to go to Winton, the deserted, ghost town down south of Green River, where they lived but he and Hazaar had put up a fuss and had made them change their minds. Instead of the deserted, ghost town of Winton that they had teleported to another ghost town called Sweeney Ranch which was only 8.1 square miles with half of that having become overgrown by trees, bushes and other vegetation. There had been five hundred people living in Sweeney Ranch, Wyoming before the Plague of the Mosquito's had struck, the plague had decimated the community, everyone had perished and the town had never really recovered, no one really bothered about bringing it back up from what it looked now, really it was just one of them old, abandoned towns that no one remembered anymore.

The land had nearly reclaimed one of the schools, the one story building was all boarded up and had branches, vines and moss along with all other sorts of green and brown matter growing on it, giving it a spooky feeling. The other school had collapsed on itself, the beams had rusted all to hell then they had buckled. He and his brothers had watched as that baby had fallen, it had been cool to hear all the cracking and popping sounds then see the building just fall sideways then become engulfed in a cloud of dust. The three stores had been boarded up, they still had all their signs up proclaiming that they had the best of one or another type of produce or where the best store this side of the great state of Wyoming or served the best slice of pie in the world or had the best prices this side of Wyoming. The clothing store had collapsed, so had the only bank. The post office was still standing but it was heavily overgrown with bushes, trees, cactus and there were tumbleweeds all around it making it completely off-limits. As the books had said, if you leave nature alone, don't clip it or try to tame it, it will regrow. It just takes a while is all, all of this reclaiming in Sweeney Ranch had taken fifty years, short for some but long for others. The few houses and the only ranch in the community were still up, some of the houses were looking to be on their last legs while others looked to still be pretty sturdy, the fence around the ranch had fallen in places, rusted barbed wire and pipes were sticking up from the ground, almost begging for someone to come and trip up on them and get a right bad scrape or cut that would become infected pretty badly. The rangeland was claiming the ranch and he couldn't be sure but he had thought he had seen a herd of horses grazing near the almost fallen over barn that had lost all of its red paint. He and his brothers used the deserted towns as a sort of play area, a change in scenery. He was glad that his older brothers hadn't of done much complaining or fussing about he and Hazaar wanting to go some other place than Winton, his main reason was because Winton offered no cover so if the sun had come out from the clouds he'd of been shrieking at the top of his lungs because his eye would have been affected.

"Hey! Hazaar! Come over here and keep Lazeer company for a short while." Lhaklar yelled. "I have some beefing to do with the Bilester."

"Ten dollars says you lose to Bile." Lazeer said with a grin.

"Ten dollars say he loses to me." Lhaklar said back. Hazaar ran up, he was sweaty but the corners of his O-shaped mouth were curled up in a smile, he was happy and content.

"Not a problem, need a break anyways. Hey Lazeer." Hazaar said after he had plopped down beside his younger brother.

"Bile and Lhaklar are about to spar," Lazeer said to Hazaar, Lhaklar had just walked off.

"Dibs on Bile winning." Hazaar said quickly.

"Joining in on the bet? Ten dollars if Lhaklar loses." Lazeer said.

"Hell yeah, that and Lhaklar has to wear a dress." Hazaar said evilly.

"Deal!" Lazeer laughed. "Hey Lhaklar! You have to wear a dress if you lose to Bile!"

"In your dreams, Mohawk!" Lhaklar yelled back.

Gaajah, Baruk and Bohir had all been said to go off some place and quit bugging the adults in the camp by their mothers so they had all decided to hop around and look for something to do and look for some mischief to get into. They had gone to three places, had scared three herds of Pronghorn Antelope away then had scared a herd of wild horses into a frenzy by firing off their powers in odd areas to get them all to stampede. Since there were no adults around to keep them in line and tell them to watch their language they had all also started running off their mouths, saying all sorts of curse words in their sentences and, of course, starting up mini-fights between themselves. For his bullying of Impub and that dweeb, Qhuakiz Ubalki, Baruk had gotten a good whipping with his father's belt and Gaajah had gotten similar. Although Baruk felt a great love for his father, and looked up to him greatly as a sort of hero, he was terrified of his grandfather. Gaajah could concur with this as, really, he was terrified of his father as well. Gaajah walked around his father on his toes, being careful not to spark his temper and being careful to not evoke him into using his belt on him. Since he had turned six hundred and twenty-one years of age he had had to endure the harassment of that belt, if he talked back or didn't do something right he'd get one or two whaps with the belt, if he misbehaved or got too rowdy and made something break he'd get three or four whaps with the belt and if he was really bad he'd get somewhere around five to eight whaps with the belt. And, what was worse, his father also spanked him something awful, either with the flat palm of his hand or with a stick. He had learned how to use his Elemental Powers from his father out of dire fear, he had practically copied his father's movements so not to get yelled at or have his father run at him and beat him up. His father had never ran up and beat him up for not being able to do a move or do a specific power but his fear made him think that if he didn't do something right the first time he was in for a round of bad abuse. Baruk, he had learned from his father his Elemental Powers but there had been a big difference. While his father was mean and abusive and while Gaajah feared him, big bro Kuruk was kind and understanding. He did get mean from time to time, he did discipline Baruk, sometimes a lot and when it was needed, but he did it only out of love and only to get his son straight. Big bro Kuruk had trained Baruk in his Elemental Powers slowly, letting him get use to the moves, the powers and the feeling that they created when they were conjured up. Gaajah would never admit it, but he did wish that his older brother, his older and only full brother, was his real father.

Bohir had a good dad, although Uncle Trob had his mean moments and his moments of disciplining his children he was very understanding and gave off a very noticable feeling of love to his children. Bohir had started out looking very thin and weedy but then, after reaching one thousand, three hundred and twenty years of age he had begun to fill out to look like his father in build. He stood six-foot, two inches tall, he had good muscle mass on his arms, legs, back and chest and he had good insight to his powers. His father had trained him well and not with abuse, Bohir spoke of his father very well and the reason for this was because his father and he had a good relationship. Gaajah looked over at Bohir, he had a Zombie-ish looking face that had red and purple flaked patches of flesh on his cheeks, forehead and neck and he had black imitation blood under both of his eyes. His hair was dark blue, there were streaks of cream in his bangs which hung down in his face and he also had creamy streaks in the back of his hair as well. He had cream-colored eyes that had red pupils in them and he had puke-yellow skin. Gaajah liked hanging out with Bohir a lot, they were friends but he had a feeling that Baruk didn't much like him. He had overheard Baruk saying to his father at one time that he thought that Bohir was a stick, that there was nothing there in him and that he had no drive. Big bro Kuruk had silenced him right quick on that by saying that Bohir was family and that he should not be talking or thinking of him in that way.

Gaajah's mother thought that her children were all equally attached to both she and his father but, in reality, he wasn't. Although he did feel a love for his father it was only brought on by his fear of him, he saw his father for who he was, the man who had made it be for him to be in the universe, the other half that had helped to make him be made. In truth, he was more attached to his mother than to his father. Sometimes his mother could be harsh as well, but he preferred her brand of harshness over his father's. She did her disciplining normally, maybe slap his back or shoulder but she'd never use a belt or stick or a fist against him and, for that, he loved her more than he did his father. Uevaa was an evil thing, so took after pop a bit too much and she had no problems with him, and it did seem that their dad thought and saw her as not a problem as he barely disciplined her, and Selik seemed to be fine with dad. Gaajah couldn't understand why it was always he who got the abuse and it really, truly, did make him feel as if there was something dreadfully wrong with him or if, possibly, his father didn't love him like he did with Uevaa or Selik.

"Man, all these locations suck!" Baruk exclaimed, he kicked a rock up then sent it sailing for a mile after punching out a gust of air from his fist at it.

"Find another location to go to then you idiot." Gaajah said.

"Where'd your dad say he and Uncle Tazir were going to?" Baruk asked Bohir.

"Green River," Bohir replied. "looking for that girl and her kids."

"What girl?" Gaajah asked.

"That... Angel something or another. She's related to us and had four kids at one time." Bohir replied. "That's really all I remember being told."

"Bile and Lhaklar," Gaajah said. "she had two others. Have no idea what happened to them, don't think anyone does."

"Think we'll see Bile today?" Bohir asked, he had yet to see Bile but had heard a few things about him and did want to get to know him a little.

"Doubt it, daddy says that he got grounded by his mother." Baruk replied.

"What for?" Bohir asked.

"I have no idea, my dad says that it was because he disobeyed her but I don't think even he knows." Baruk replied. "Why? You want to see the little coward or something?"

"He's a coward?" Bohir looked over at Baruk.

"Yeah man, as a kid he was always sticking up for the little guy, he walked around acting all tough and all when he was little but underneath of it all he was just a little kisser." Gaajah said. "Had not a bad bone in his body, always sticking up for someone and was always telling me and Baruk to leave his pansy baby brother alone."

"Bet you he is hiding with his mom. Coward." Baruk said.

"Man I am so fuckin' bored! Is there anything at all to do on this waste bucket of a planet but sit and watch the plants grow and the sky change colors?" Bohir leaned up against a tree.

"Where did that wet end, Amadh go?" Baruk asked. "He went off some place this morning, anyone know?"

"He and his father went to a place near Sweeney Ranch," Bohir replied. "Think someone else went with them as well, a girl or something. Why?"

"I'd like to show off to them fools, they think they are so big and all. Always thinking they are better parents and people. They don't even conquer or have anything made up for themselves but that damn farm of theirs. What say we go and scare 'em up a bit? Make the ground around them drop or make a ring of fire around them then just stand back and listen to them shout for us to put it out."

"Better than just standing around and doing nothing," Bohir said. "lets do it."

Bile swung his sword hard, sparks flew from his blade as it struck his brothers then he withdrew, twirled and swung again but this time he missed the sword and met only air. Lhaklar twirled around him then swung his sword up against his brothers, blue sparks flew out then he backed off. This was fun, they were having fun. He and Bile were not fighting for anything really, they were just sparring, loosening up their muscles, acquiring new ones and keeping in tune with their swordsmen abilities that their mother had taught them. Their mother had taught all of them by use of a stick all of the moves that she knew. She taught them how to keep a hold of a sword while spinning or twirling, how to leap and flip while having a good grip on your sword and how to conserve your strength when fighting. The latter had been very important, she had said that a lot of fighters put a lot of their strength in the start of the fight and didn't spread it out evenly, it made for the fight to end quickly and for injuries to happen easier, it also made for your opponent to take advantage of you. Your opponent would bide his or her time, conserving their strength and energy, while you're just wasting yours away. Bile swung his sword twice then began swinging it up, over his head, left and right then twirling it before he jabbed it forward. Lhaklar swung his body around then stuck his sword out. He caught his brothers sword against the ground, pinning it down and for a second it looked as if he'd win. Both he and Bile took two synchronized steps then Bile moved his left hand quickly above his right and swung his sword free. He swung his sword in a circle then jabbed it forward, intending to tap the end of his sword against his brothers side, before he had started sparring with his brothers he had put a rubber cork on the end of his sword, this was to protect his brothers against any injuries and his brothers had also put rubber corks on the ends of their swords as well. It was an automatic, they always put the corks on the ends of their swords as soon as they took their swords out of their boxes. Before the rubber cork on the end of his sword could touch his brother, Lhaklar swung his body to the left then dropped his sword. He swung his arms around then shot red flames at Bile who back flipped out of the way.

"So, my little brother wants to go from sword spar to power spar." Bile said, he stabbed his sword down into the grass, backed away and got into a fighting stance. "I can dig that."

Cheshire and Amadh looked out from their hiding place behind a pile of bricks that had been reclaimed by the land in shock, they had not expected to walk up over a hill to see a sparring match between Bile and Lhaklar and, at the moment, since there was no danger around and since the two boys had not noticed them, they were just watching what was going on. They were purposely keeping Blaiga down so she wouldn't give off that they were there, she was a bit talkative that morning which was slightly annoying but they were both taking her overly talkativeness in their stride. They had come to the location as purely a way to get out of the camp, they needed a slight break from the others and figured that the old well that was a hundred feet from Sweeney Ranch, Wyoming was the best place to go. As it had turned out, the old well had been closed up after it had ran dry and the area around it had been claimed back by the land. All they had seen were three herds of wild horses, mostly bay, black and chestnut horses of stocky build but they had also seen two very wildly patterned paints in one of the herds that had a more sleek body build than the others. Cheshire, like Tazir, bred, raised and trained horses for a living so when he had seen the two paints he had put two-and-two together on their heritage. The rest of the herd were genuine wild horses while the two paints had had domestic ancestors, due to the plagues the domestic horses had been set loose and had mingled in with the wild stock.

This wasn't entirely surprising to Cheshire, there were some on Zeta Ren who released domestic stock to breed with the wild to better the strain of both the wild and the domestic horses. One of the studs he had on his farm back home had a wild great-great-great grandfather while his great-great-great grandmother had been born in a stall, raised on feed and had lived on a ranch setting before she had been set free to breed with a wild stud. Sometimes the combinations backfired, sometimes the get from such pairings were throwbacks to their wild kin while others retained their domestic side, the ones that were throwbacks were especially difficult to train and work with but they came around after some gentle hands and patience. There were others on Zeta Ren that also let their flocks of goats mingle with the wild goats and sheep, he wasn't too keen on that idea as it created hybrids and those were not only were sterile but you couldn't do anything with them as they were fully wild in behavior and, also, their fleece grew so wild and unruly that it couldn't be used in the market.

"I do wish Duru was here," Amadh said to him in a low voice. "this would shut him up about what Tazir can and can not pass on to his children."

Cheshire nodded his head in agreement, for the past two weeks DuruVile had been all about how much Tazir could and could not pass on to his get. When TrobrencusVile had said that he was pretty sure that Lhaklar could do Elemental Powers, DuruVile had come up saying that he had seen something that wasn't true or fact as his son couldn't pass on anything except for a bad cold to his offspring. That had angered him and his family and Tazir extremely, Tazir and his father had fought something awful on it then he had practically thrown the man out of camp. DuruVile and his family had set up their own little camp about a mile and a half from the theirs, they saw plenty of them but both Duru and his wife were not allowed in their camp, their kids, Gaajah, Uevaa and Selik, were allowed to mingle with the children in their camp and were allowed to enter their camp but Duru and his wife were not. Trobrencus had apologized for his beating of Bile to Tazir and Vile, the latter seemed to be not a bit concerned over his son possibly being hurt or not while Tazir had been plum concerned out of his wits. They had seen not a thing of Bile or Lhaklar or Angel in two weeks and were all concerned that, possibly, Angel had been too hard on them and might have punished the boys a bit too hard. Here, right in front of Cheshire and his secondborn son, was the proof that the boys were fine and what was better, they had front row seats to seeing what the two were capable of.

They both were very obviously very well-trained in swordry, Cheshire had watched their movements and had seen that both had very keen insight on how to use a sword proficiently. Their movements were very fluid and powerful, Lhaklar had a very good, strong and graceful step in his movements that showed that he was not only fast but powerful while Bile's movements just showed to the world that he was very strong and would be one to reckon with in a fight. They had walked up on them near the end of their sword sparring so they hadn't been able to see the fullness of their abilities with a sword so Cheshire and his son both based their opinions on that. Their opinion on Lhaklar being the quick, graceful fighter swiftly changed as they watched him fight with his powers. Bile swung his arms hard, great gusts of blue wind shot out from his fists at Lhaklar who leaped up high to avoid them then he kicked his leg up and sent three ground spears out then he gracefully swung his arms out and sent two air discs rushing out at his brother who made a shield of golden air form in front of him that repelled the spears and discs. Lhaklar sent out three ground discs, leaped up high into the air then began twirling. He became engulfed in purple energy quickly, after a full minute had passed shards of purple lightning began flying out at Bile who made a blue shield form around himself. Bile swung his arms about and made blue icicles, shards and strands of blue energy which popped when they struck his brother then he made his shield drop and ran forward. The ground rose under his feet, becoming a wave. He veered right just he reached his brother then turned around and shot out an energy strand of red at Lhaklar who caught it in his hand. Lhaklar swung the hand he had grabbed Bile's energy strand with back then flung it forward, he didn't let the energy strand go, he began whipping it around and around until it became a red tornado then he released it. Bile flew back, did a somersault on the ground then got to his feet. Lhaklar sent out a blue strand of energy and two white energy balls that struck the ground just two feet from his brother then leaped up high. A white fire funnel formed from his waist down, Cheshire, Amadh and Blaiga, who had popped her head up to see what her father and older brother were looking at with such interest, heard popping sounds then looked down. Bile crouched down low, his rear came within six inches of the ground, then he erupted up on a golden funnel of air that revolved around and around from his waist down. When Bile was at Lhaklar's height he sent out five golden air discs, two strands of golden fire and then he sent his entire golden air funnel out at his brother. Lhaklar swooped his white fire funnel down low to avoid Bile's attacks then he raised his hands up. Vines rose up from the ground and wrapped around Bile's body, trapping him in a cell of vine. Lhaklar finished off the sparring match by making the cell of vine that was around his brother drop. Bile swung his arms to the left and a net of air cushioned his fall.

"Show off!" they heard Bile yell up at his brother. "You win this round."

Cheshire was about to walked around the landscape reclaimed bile of bricks and make his presence known when he looked over to the side. Baruk, Gaajah and TrobrencusVile's son, Bohir, had teleported in sometime before Bile and Lhaklar had ended their sparring match and were charging up three black energy blasts. Cheshire yelled out just as the three black blasts of energy were released then he watched in horror as each blast struck Bile. Bile yelled out in agony then turned in his direction. Before Cheshire could yell out for Bile to watch out, Baruk ran in on a wave of dirt then swung his arms to the side. A large spear rose out from the ground and flew right up in Lhaklar's direction. Lhaklar saw it, he ducked his white flaming funnel low then he swung his arms to the side. Gusts of steaming hot air flew out from his white fire funnel, Baruk shrieked in pain when they struck him. Before Lhaklar could cast out another attack, Gaajah sent up a strand of white energy. Lhaklar was struck in the shoulder, he lost control of his white fire funnel and it swung back hard and struck the ground, he was hurled several feet before crashing hard to the ground. Gaajah and Bile both began fighting, Bile punched out fists of white, golden and clear fire from his fists while Gaajah swung his arms and sent out streams of white fire. Gaajah was sent sailing back after beign struck by a golden air black. Just as Baruk and Lhaklar began fighting, Cheshire grabbed for his communicator that was on his belt.

"Tazir! You and Kuruk and Trobrencus had best get your asses out to Sweeney Ranch, Wyoming and pronto! Baruk, Gaajah and Bohir have all started attacking Bile and Lhaklar!" Cheshire yelled into his communicator.


	18. Chapter 18

Hazaar shot up like a rocket from the rock that he and Lazeer were sitting on and ran to the front of the forest, Lazeer followed right behind him so when Hazaar put the brakes on just before exiting the thickly overgrown forest his brother slammed right into him. They tottered on the brink of shooting out of the forest for a few seconds then Hazaar grabbed a hold of the tree of the nearest tree. It was the tree that saved them from spilling out of the forest and it was the tree that saved Lazeer from having to deal with having another of his blind episodes from having his left eye be exposed to the rays of the sun. They both stared out in shock at what was going on in front of them, Bile was struggling against two beings that looked his age, one looking almost identical to him except for looking burlier and having the left side of his head being a blood-red color that was so dark that they both mistook it as black for a full second, while the right side of his head was an imperial red color, and one looking like a Zombie. Although Hazaar couldn't put a name to the two kids that were fighting his oldest brother, Lazeer did. He automatically knew that the one that looked like Bile was BarukVile Glosu Surfeit, who was the son of KurukVile Shonsinu Surfeit and Irka Shaiden, he was Bile's uncle and he was his, Hazaar's and Lhaklar's cousin. The other kid was BohirVile Pustzar Surfeit, the son of TrobrencusVile Bolym Surfeit and Bahne Brotzol, he was their, he and all of his brothers, cousin. Lazeer saw that Lhaklar was fighting against a kid that, at first, he couldn't put a name to then it struck him like a tennis ball. His full brother was fighting GaajahVile Vulbub Surfeit, the son of DuruVile Bolushi Surfeit and Cyla Dybla, who was his and all of his brothers uncle, great-uncle in Bile's case.

Hazaar was breathing hard, so was he but he was doing so out of panic while his brother was breathing hard out of pure anger. Here were their older brothers latched in a tight fight against three, the oldest of their brothers fighting against two who looked about ready to send him to the curb and the brother that had been born before him fighting against Gaajah who was fresh, not winded and looked about ready to also send him to the curb. Hazaar could go out and fight to defend their brothers, he'd be stuck in the forest unless the clouds drifted in front of the sun. Before Lazeer could say anything, could spur his one hundred year older brother on to help their much older brothers, to go out and draw one of the kdis that were ganging up on Bile away to fight him, five adults teleported in. Lazeer's heart caught in his throat when he saw all of them, he was automatically filled with terror as he remembered the four adults well from seeing the pictures that Bile had taken the day he and Lhaklar had gone to the camp and the day they had been discovered by their mother and had been grounded for a week and three days. The big, burly man that's left side of his face was red while the right side was white was his, Hazaar's and Lhaklar's uncle, KurukVile Shonsinu Surfeit. The man beside him was his father, DuruVile Surfeit, while the man beside him that looked very Zombie-like in appearance was TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit, their great-great-great uncle. Before Lazeer could think that the light blue skinned man who was wearing a dark gray striped tuxedo that's jacket had a tail on it that stretched down to the ground was his, Hazaar and Lhaklar's father, a dark blue skinned man who had a lot of muscle on his upper torso and arms that looked to be wearing a single goggled glass, a monocle from the looks of it from the distance he was at, ran up.

Hazaar wasn't one for remembering names, ages or faces when he was mad, he just forgot everything as his temper gauge rose and that, his mother had told him, could very well make him both a very powerful and a very dangerous man one day. Mother worried a lot about him because of his slight temper troubles, he typically bottled up his emotions and did his best to keep them down until he was outside but, sometimes, they got out in the house and either someone got hurt or something got broken. He couldn't explain it, he figured that he had some sort of disorder, that he might have Bipolar Disorder, but his mother just said that it was because he was in that stage in his life where he was mad at everyone and everything, where he was basically being pissed off at the universe and all of its inhabitants. According to mom, Bile had gone through a particularly scary temperamental phase when he had been his age. Bile, she had said, had broken four windows, punched several holes in the walls and had also flipped the sleeper sofa over for no reason. He had been surprised at finding that out, he had been shocked at hearing that Lhaklar had also gone through a similar phase where, not only did he snap at anyone who had come by him or had said so much as hello to him, but that he had also broken four kitchen tables, three chairs and had kicked the door out, completely off of its hinges. His mother had said that he and Lazeer had been outside when this had all happened and that she was glad as it had been right scary, when he had asked Bile and Lhaklar if what he had been told was true he had been equally shocked at finding out that it had happened and that, at one time, Bile had actually slapped four glasses, the glass kind, not the plastic, from the kitchen counter and they had all sailed towards their mother, cutting her hands in several places and one of the glasses had opened up a two-inch long cut on her left cheek as well. That had really scared him, he loved his mother, and his brothers, and couldn't bare to see her, or them, being hurt, be hurting or even be sad. He had tried isolating himself in his and Lazeer's room several times, acting like the Meerkat of Africa, hiding away until it was time to come out after the danger had passed. His mother had refused to let him do that, she had always gotten Bile or Lhaklar to come and retrieve him or she had come in herself to drag him out. _Isolation does no one person any good,_ his mother had said several times, _you're just going through a phase is all. Nothing to be afraid of, your little out of control temper will cool down in a few years and you'll be back to my sweet Hazaar again in no time. _

He hoped so, he didn't like being mad all the time and nor did he like snapping at others like he had been these past ten years. He had no one really to talk to except for his mother about these problems. He had tried going to Bile a few times after experiencing a confusing episode of waking up to find his bed wet and him sticky but that had not gone well. He had been nervous, very nervous, and although he had told Bile what had happened and had asked about what had happened his brother had chuckled a bit too loudly for his liking then had said something on the area of dreams and dreaming making him feel excited when he was sleeping which had made him start the process of becoming a man... or something like that then he had walked off. Lhaklar had said something similar while his mother had sat him down and had explained it fully. Momma always knew how to explain things as they should be then add in her own brand of comfort and reassurance, after he had been explained what had happened to him he had cooled down then had gone on with the rest of his day. Lazeer, whenever it had happened to him, which it did happen and quite a lot come to think of it, had just said he had had an oops moment and that he really needed to put on a diaper before he went to bed at night. Lazeer seemed to be having it better with the temperamental phase, although he had his moments of being moody and snappy, he was pretty much acting the same except for when he got into his depressed moments because of his eye. Mom had explained that well to him, she had said that for some the temperamental phase effected in different terms, in different areas. While it had effected him, Lhaklar and Bile in an extreme sort of way, it was effecting Lazeer in a medium sort of way. Lazeer was moody, he was heading into them quiet moments and he was right depressed but not as much as Bile and Lhaklar had experienced and not as much as he was experiencing.

"Hazaar..." he heard his younger brother say. "its seven against two out there, our brothers are in trouble. We need to help them."

"We?" Hazaar turned around, he had momentarily forgotten that his brother was behind him. "Lazeer, you can't! You head out there you go blind in one eye and that will make for a handicap."

"I'll risk it, Bile and Lhaklar need us."

"Go get mom," Hazaar said. "I'll help them, you go get mom. Find her and bring her back here, hear me?"

"I want to help, not run off like a coward!" Lazeer snapped.

"You are helping! Mom is very strong and powerful." Hazaar replied, he placed his hand on his little brother's shoulder. "I'm more rested than Bile and Lhaklar, I'll last a while. Find mom and bring her here. I'll hold them off as long as I can."

"Brother..."

"Do it!" Hazaar snapped, he then turned and ran out of the forest, leaving Lazeer all alone.

After having being told that Bile and Lhaklar were being attacked by Baruk, Bohir and Gaajah, Tazir had teleported in quickly. His brother, father and Trobrencus had come in with him after overhearing the loud call that had come in through his communicator so, instead of him forming first in Sweeney Ranch, Wyoming he had appeared at the same time as they. He didn't mind, this day had gone from being great to being somewhat disappointing then had taken a turn to terrifying for him. He had been thrilled when Eldass and Homsi had found his wife and had had her standing in front of them, giving them no fight or fuss at all then that had fallen to shock and disappointment after Eldass had radioed in saying that he and Homsi were chasing after her as she had taken off soon after he had told them to bring her to him. He was still trying to figure that one out, after he had found out that his wife was on the run he had teleported back to camp with Trobrencus and that was where his stepfather had blared in through his communicator so loudly that the birds that had landed near the river had flown off in a panic. He had dropped his communicator then had teleported, Trobrencus had done the same as had Kuruk and his father, there really had been no need for him to tell his brother or father what was going on as his stepfather had blared it out so loudly that they could hear it and they had been pretty far away from him when he had received the call.

Tazir took off running towards Bile, fully intending to separate either one or both of the boys that were fighting him. Bile looked as if he was faltering, he was dripping in sweat, looked to be shaking a bit in his legs and he'd periodically drop to one of his knees before getting back up. Bohir fired an energy strand from each of his fingers at Bile then cast out a white sound wave that sent Bile flying out. Tazir saw him bounce off the ground twice then come to rest on his side for only a second before getting up. Bile sent back two weak fire balls then he charged up an explosive pink energy sphere and sent it out. Baruk jumped out of the way then charged at Bile, Bohir was struck by the pink energy sphere and went flying back. He struck the pile of bricks that had been reclaimed by the land behind his father hard, before he could get up his father was on him. Tazir heard Trobrencus yelling at his son, getting on him real good then he heard Bohir cry out before going quiet. Whatever happened between them two was between them, Tazir forgot about Trobrencus and his son. Bile was now casting out shards of yellow, white and black energy and he was also kicking up chunks of Earth that Baruk barely managed to evade. Baruk sent out five red energy strands then leaped into the air. Before he could sent out a fire blast, a white fire blast, Bile leaped up and kicked his feet out. A gust of black air flew at Baruk. Baruk screamed out in pain then cast out a weak air ball before falling to the ground.

"Bile looks dead tired out there!" Tazir said to his brother who had slid to a stop beside him.

"Yeah, well he looks stronger than my son in his tired state" KurukVile replied.

Tazir hadn't noticed Lhaklar yet, when he looked over to the side he felt his stomach drop. Gaajah was throwing spears, balls of black dirt and black lightning bolts at his son who was either ducking or jumping up to avoid them. Lhaklar cast out three white energy spheres, a green lightning bolt then he leaped up high, began flipping then fell to the ground with his hand held flat. Gaajah craned his neck up then he fell flat on his face, the ground around him had become a crater with Lhaklar's Elemental Ground Power ability. Tazir noticed that his father had come to a stop as well, he was looking back and forth between Lhaklar and Bile, his face bore the very look of shock on it. He and his father had had a fierce fight the day after Angel had made an appearance, he had kicked him and his wife and children out of the camp for a short while then had decided to let Gaajah, Uevaa and Selik have the opportunity to come in and go out as they pleased so that they could interact with the children that were in his camp. His father had said that the day that he saw Lhaklar throw out a lightning bolt or cast out a flaming blast he'd become a monkey's uncle and his father had said that he highly doubted that he would be able to pass on the Elemental Ability to any of his get. His father had really insulted Eshal for her inability to do Elemental Powers once, Tazir had a feeling that his daughter knew about it as she and he didn't speak much anymore. Tazir turned away from Bile and Baruk and began shouting over at his father.

"You was saying that I couldn't father children that can do Elemental Powers nearly two weeks ago! There's your proof right there!" TazirVile pointed at his son, who had risen up on a funnel of golden air and was casting out discs of golden fire, golden air and was also sending out rivets of pebbles that were at the base of his golden air funnel.

Gaajah became distracted after hearing his uncle yell out, he looked over and saw his father and was overcame with fear and that allowed for Lhaklar to strike him with a gust of black air then send out a black lightning bolt then a green lightning ball that sent him spinning back on his side. He rolled onto his stomach, got up then found himself flattened back to the ground. He had just to feel his father's hands on his back to know that he was in trouble, his father yanked him up to his feet, turned him around then stared hard into his eyes. Gaajah, immediately, knew that he was in trouble. Bohir was sitting down beside his father, he was looking up at his father fearfully while his father was just staring out at the fighting. Gaajah looked over at Bile and Baruk, Lhaklar had joined Bile in fighting Baruk but it looked as if they were being beat back. Before Gaajah could say anything, explain himself or beg for mercy, his father tossed him in the direction of Bohir. His father shoved him twice when he stumbled then he grabbed him by his shoulder and pushed him down to the ground. Gaajah, shivering slightly in his fear of what punishment he would be getting soon, looked up at his father who stood beside Trobrencus. He did not dare say anything to his father now, he knew that if he had he would have been yelled at and insulted. He swallowed hard then looked forward.

"Bile..." Lhaklar gasped. "go get Hazaar and Lazeer and get out of here. Take our younger brothers to safety."

"Y-you kidding me?" Bile breathed heavily. "N-not on y-your life. We're in this tuh-together."

Bile was hurt in several places, his right shoulder was open and bleeding, he had a gash in his chest that was bleeding greatly, both of his legs were open and bleeding and his right arm was burned badly. That damn punk kid, Baruk, and his gang of bully friends had been waiting for them to finish their sparring, Lhaklar fully believed, that damn kid and his bully friends had been biding their time, letting them use up their energy and strength on themselves in their innocent sparring and playing before attacking. Bile had been tired after their sparring, he had fought gallantly but Baruk had been fresh and rested up, even though both he and his brother had fought hard and he had beat back his opponent, Baruk was proving a problem. Lhaklar sent out a combination red, black and blue air blast then he stomped his foot down. Ten spears rose up from the ground, he twirled and kicked them out, Bile punched his fist forward and made gusts of flaming air fly towards Baruk. Lhaklar then decided to use a move his mother had taught him, like Bile, Hazaar and Lazeer, she had taught all of them how to use their Elemental abilities, along with their Energy powers as well. She had taught them a lot, they had learned everything from her. She had taught them slowly, letting them get use to their powers, letting them get accustomed to their powers and also, she had let him and his brothers evolve their own abilities within the powers. Lhaklar swung his arms back then forward, flames began rolling down from his shoulders, they started at being red then changed to white then again to black before he shot his arms forward. Baruk shrieked at the top of his lungs when the super charged stream of black fire struck him, he got up from the ground smoking then punched out a stream of red fire which Lhaklar was able to swallow. Baruk's fiery red eyes grew wide with this, he had never seen the Fire Arm move before nor had known that it had existed and he had never seen anyone swallow a fire attack before. Baruk leaped up then ran at Lhaklar and Bile. He managed to get between them and when he did he jumped up and managed to do a split, white flames sent Bile flying back. Baruk saw Bile bounce on the ground, roll twice then struggle to get up, Lhaklar had fallen back but was now running back to continue the fight.

Lhaklar was thinking that the kid was bold to of done what he had just done, he slid to a stop right in front of Baruk then swung his fist at him. Baruk shrieked when Lhaklar's fist struck his chest, Lhaklar had managed to set his fist on fire then freeze it, Baruk had a third degree burn right in the center of his chest which stung him greatly. He backed off a ways then kicked his leg up, Lhaklar leaned out of the way of his just sent ground spear then made a red shield form around him. Baruk thought that that was it, that his opponent was chickening out on him and had taken refuge in a shield. He quickly changed that when flaming icicles flew out at him. He swung his fists, trying to punch the white, red and black firecicles out of his way but he found that with every contact his hands would be burned. When Lhaklar exited his red shield Baruk saw his chance and swung his arm. He had only gotten it halfway swung before it was grabbed. He turned around quickly and saw what he thought was one of the adults in camp, the one called Cheshire Ubalki. Before he could say anything, the guy swung his fist and drove him back. He grabbed at his face, he felt his blood flow out from his nose and from his now cut gums then he swung his fist, sending out a ball of flame that the guy caught, separated then elongated into twin flaming ropes. The next thing he knew, the guy twirled the flaming ropes above his head then threw them, when they wrapped around his upper torso he screamed out in agony then he shrieked out as the ropes both burned him and electrocuted him at the same time.

"Tazir! Is that that kid that you saw on Zeta Ren?" KurukVile asked quickly, he had planned on going in to stop his son from further fighting, and injuring, Bile but after seeing Bile, and then Lhaklar, beating his son back he had figured he'd best just let them deal with his son. In his eye, he saw that his son was being taught a lesson in who not to mess with.

"No, I have no idea who he is." TazirVile replied.

Lazeer had planned on rushing in to help his brothers after he had seen Gaajah being carted off by his father but after he had seen Bile being beaten back and struggling to get up he had decided to do as Hazaar had told him to do. He teleported to Green River, Wyoming, ran through the shield then thought up his mother, he figured she was at work still, working in the Deli department at Food Lion but when he teleported he found himself at an intersection. This confused him and he forgot that there were cars driving by, he walked into the street and very nearly got him. By his walking out from under the overhanging canopy of Ross, a jewelry store, he was exposed to the sun. He shrieked at the top of his lungs, grabbed at his eye then lost his footing as he fell to the asphalt. He heard rubber squeal as people tried not to hit him, he got to his feet only to fall back down after being side-swiped by a vehicles bumper then he felt the shoulder of his shirt rip clean off of his body as a car barely missed running over him. His left eye throbbed, he felt as if a volcano deep inside his eye was spewing out its lava and that it was just pooling, bubbling and sending its hot steam all inside his eyeball, he experienced excruciating pain for all of five minutes then the pain slowly ebbed away. He stood up slowly then felt a car side swipe him, he went flying to the curb, bounced then he came to rest just by the gutter on his side. He couldn't see out of his left eye now, he was blind on that side and what was worse, the car that had struck him had torn off the first two layers of flesh from his right shoulder. He had yet to feel that. Lazeer slowly stood up, he was shaky on his legs but he managed to stand and that was what attracted his mother's attention. Angel Irene, with Eldass and Homsi following twenty feet behind her friends vehicle on a sort of hoverboard, yelled for her friend to stop the car. Casey Cooke slammed her foot on the brakes of her Mercedes-Benz then careened to the side of the road, she nearly caused an accident in the process. Angel got out of her friend's car, grabbed her son who was looking around in a daze then she threw him into the back of her friend's car. She got into her friend's car just before Homsi and Eldass could stop their hoverboards and grab her.

"Lazeer! What the hell are you doing?" Angel yelled back at her son. "You could of been killed!"

"Momma?" Lazeer had his hand over his left eye, it was still throbbing but the pain was nearly all gone.

"What happened? Where's your brothers?"

That five minutes was the longest five minutes of his life and he was really shaken up. He shakily told his mother in one of the most emotion-filled voices that he and his brothers had gone to Sweeney Ranch to play, rough-house and spar and that they were having fun up to when Baruk, Gaajah and Bohir showed up. He told of the fight that his two brothers were having and his fear that they were in danger then he told of the five adults that he had seen and that Hazaar had sent him to get her. Angel told her friend to pull over at the train yard, Homsi and Eldass had pulled out two black boxes from their back pants pockets and had quickly flattened them out right after she had gotten into her friend's car. The hoverboards that they were using were typically used in an emergency, they had been invented just before Lazeer's birth and from what she had seen, they looked as if they had been improved on as, when they had been put out to market they had been rather slow. The hoverboards, sleek, black and flat things that had two holes on the bottom that pink jets of air shot out of to keep the boards afloat and two exhausts in the back that propelled the devices forward, were now very fast. Homsi and Eldass had been able to keep up to within ten to twenty feet of her friends vehicle.

Casey Cooke was one of the descendants of Captain Ned O'Nell, Captain O'Nell had had three children with his wife before being sent off to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Quaeda, the organization that claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centers in New York City, New York that had claimed two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-three people and was also responsible for the numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. He had spent six years in Afghanistan before returning back to the United States, he had fathered one other child before being sent to Iraq, he had been driving an army vehicle that had been bombed by rebels and had been killed. Casey Cooke was descended from his daughter, Lily, and she was one of only two left in his family that had survived all of the plagues and natural disasters. Casey had met Angel after she had made the apartment in New York appear in Green River, Wyoming, she had been told stories about Angel, stories that had been passed down from each generation and had walked up to ask if Angel was who she thought she was. After that first meeting, the two had become fast friends. Casey worked at a tattoo parlor in Rock Springs, she had a strawberry tattooed to her hip, her favorite fruit, and she had a scorpion tattooed to her right shoulder. She had black hair, brown eyes and stood five foot, six inches tall and was twenty-five years old. Her apartment was a mile from Angel and her sons' apartment and she saw Angel and her sons at least two times a day. Casey knew all of her friends sons, she thought highly of them all and, sometimes, she even joined in on a smoke with all four of them from time to time. She knew of Bile's and Lhaklar's smoking habits and kept them to herself, she had an idea of what Lhaklar was doing with his job and she also kept that to herself. Casey looked back and saw how stressed Lazeer was, he was now doing his best to not cry, he was hitching in breath after breath in an attempt to stave off the tears but they were there in his eyes. She felt sorry for the boy, Casey pulled her car over quickly.

"Take my son to my apartment, will you?" Angel said as she got out, Lazeer shot up in the back seat at his mother's words then got out.

"No! I'm coming with you!"

"Baby, this might get dangerous. You're hurt, you need to go home and take care of both your eye and shoulder." Angel said.

"No, I want to go with you! I want to help!"

"You have helped, Laz. I'll have Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar home just as you walk in."

"Mom..." Lazeer was now really fighting the urge to cry, he was terrified. "p-p-please... I want to come, I don't want to be left behind. Please!"

Angel looked over to the left, Homsi and Eldass had just made it around the turn and were coming right at her and her son. Lazeer had lost the fight to not cry, he was now crying and begging her to not leave him behind. Angel weighed the odds quickly, take Lazeer with her and risk him being attacked and hurt as she took care of the ones that were attacking her sons or leave him behind and risk Homsi and Eldass taking him. Although Angel didn't want her son to be hurt, she didn't want him to be captured or taken from her either. Angel became engulfed in a pink energy, an energized wind blew off from her which sent Lazeer back a step. After she had finished transforming she nodded her head at Lazeer then turned sideways. Lazeer climbed onto her back quickly, she nodded her head at Casey and thanked her for helping her then she flapped her wings and flew off. Homsi and Eldass pulled their hoverboards to a stop and placed their feet on the ground as they saw their mistress, with the unknown youth on her back, as she flew off in her dragon form. The two looked at their mistress as she flew at the shield then they looked at each other after she flew out of it and teleported. The two heard the Mercedes Benz drive off, it was a purple car that had flames painted on the sides, there was one exhaust in the back that puffed out a clear smoke that had an energized feeling to it. The tires on the car were big, it looked as if they were on hydraulics, and the tires had big rims on them. Homsi and Eldass removed their feet from the ground and drove towards the shield, once they were out of it they teleported back to camp, the two were extremely confused as to what had happened that morning.

Fire bombs made the green grass on the ground that sat around Sweeney Ranch, Wyoming turn black when they landed, trees became stripped of their leaves as gusts of purple air struck them, several trees toppled over while others burned where they stood. Hazaar was doing all that he could to make the burly man, his father and grandfather back off and so far all he had been able to do was drain his strength. Lhaklar was standing nearby, he had several cuts to his face and his left arm was burned badly but he looked fine, Bile had managed to stand up but he was completely drained, he couldn't fight anymore, it was all on him and his older brother who was quickly dropping in strength. The burly man whose right side of his head was white while the left was red, really was strong and was really giving him a go for his money. His own father was fighting them now as well, Hazaar had had to turn just to avoid two fire balls then had been struck in the back by an acid ball that had exploded on impact and was still affecting him. Hazaar knew that the three men were concentrating their attacks on him, Lhaklar had repelled three blasts that had been aimed at him and he had barely missed getting burned badly by a white ball of fire. Hazaar swung his arms up then shot them forward. Great gusts of air that were on fire were cast out from his hands, Baruk had been saved by the burly man, that man had ran up and had severed his fire ropes that he had been sending red energy down that had been around Baruk's upper torso with a swipe of his hand, after the man had saved Baruk he had turned on him and had started fighting him.

Lhaklar cast out a red sphere of energy then dropped to one of his knees, he struggled to get up. He stopped after a few seconds and decided to change tactics, he was weak in strength at the moment, he'd only be able to do this ability for a short while but he very well could make the two men, one being his father, back off so he and his brothers could get away. He had discovered that, at seven hundred and thirty years of age he could transform and his mother had taught him well in the ability. She had taught him how to go quickly into his forms and had also taught him how to achieve forms that experienced users of the ability could use, such as extinct animals or animals or beings from other planets. Lhaklar became engulfed in a green glow, an energized breeze flowed off of him as he changed from his true form to a different one. He felt his body changing, his legs became longer and stronger, his arms grew longer and slender, his upper and lower torso elongated and his neck grew long as did his head. When the green glow fell from his body he stepped forward as a mint-green dragon that had bright yellow crests, a frill of yellow ran down his back. There were two, yellow webbed wings folded up against his sides and he had long, milky-yellow claws on each of his dragon fingers. Lhaklar leaped in front of Hazaar, roared loudly then breathed out white fire then he turned around and swept his long tail that had two spikes on the end back. He felt one of the two adults that had begun attacking him and his brother be swept away, when he turned around he saw that his uncle, KurukVile Surfeit, had managed to evade his attack.

"You can transform too?!" KurukVile exclaimed, he then stomped his foot down and a spear shot out at Lhaklar. Lhaklar managed to evade it but he missed seeing his uncle shoot his hands forward. He was impaled by his uncle's long, purple colored fingernails which stabbed into his arm and side.

He only fought Lhaklar to bring down his form, he had fought his granddaughter in this form a few times and knew that there were weak points in the form that would make the form drop, such as the wings and underbelly. He tried to fire out his fingernails at the wings, Lhaklar rose up on his strong back legs and turned, instead of his fingernails slicing through his nephew's delicate wings they stabbed him in the stomach. Tazir ran forward, he gathered himself quickly then leaped up. KurukVile stopped firing his blasts, his brother had landed on Lhaklar's side, he was tearing at the wings and Lhaklar was twisting and turning wildly to get him off. Kuruk yelled out when one of the wings dropped to the ground, Kuruk saw his nephew's bluish colored blood spewing out from the area that the wing had once been then he saw his brother fall to the ground. Lhaklar stomped his left forearm down and Tazir rolled out of the way then he shot a fire stream up from his fist. Lhaklar recoiled back, shrieked in pain then his legs gave out from under him. He crashed heavily to the ground, twitched twice then picked his head up, he was bleeding badly in several areas now, he was breathing heavily and both Kuruk and Tazir detected the fear in his eyes.

"Lhaklar!"

Kuruk turned and looked at the youth that had attacked his son, when his brother had said that he had no clue as to who the youngster was he had rushed forward to protect his son. The youth was a strong one, he was powerful and pretty fast. He had had to send double attacks out just to strike the youth several times, some had missed while some had struck the kid in the side. KurukVile had no idea who the kid was, he had heard Lhaklar call him his brother a few times and Tazir had heard both Bile and Lhaklar call him by that as well. KurukVile wanted the fight to end so he could have answers, he wanted to know who the kid was and he wanted to know why he had joined the fight. The youth swung his arms inward, rings of white fire began forming, going from his shoulders then revolving down to his wrists, before the youth could fire out his attack, Kuruk sent out a bolt of red lightning which struck the youth on the leg, just above his knee. The youth's attack backfired on him as he fell back, sparks flew from his body which made him scream and sail back five feet.

"Alright now," KurukVile said as he walked forward. "get your son, Tazir. He's dropped his form, nothing to worry over."

Lhaklar struggled with the little strength that he had when his father put his hand on his shoulder, he was picked up like a doll and held close, his arms were held tight by the man who had created him. His legs wobbled badly, he was extremely tired and extremely sore, he wished his mother was nearby, he missed her and he was scared. Nearby, he saw his grandfather, DuruVile Surfeit, run up and grab Bile who swung his fists weakly. DuruVile forced Bile to move forward and stand beside him, Kuruk, his and Hazaar's uncle and Bile's grandfather, grabbed Hazaar up roughly. Lhaklar was automatically filled with terror, here was his uncle staring at his little brother with such hate and resentment. He wondered what his uncle would do to his brother, he wondered if his uncle even knew who he had in his hands and he wondered where Lazeer was. Hazaar had said that he had sent Lazeer off to find their mother, if that was true she would have gotten to them by now. In his terror he imagined his baby brother being captured and hurt, he remembered the articles that had been written in the newspapers. Lazeer was considered the unknown youth, the one who was said to be his mother's son but to be thought to have no relation to him or Bile or Hazaar. Would Hazaar be given that title as well? Lhaklar lunged forward just as his uncle threw Hazaar in their direction, his little brother landed right in front of him on his side, he was quickly snatched up by Cheshire, who he now knew was his father's stepfather and who was his step-grandfather.

"Let him go!" Lhaklar strained. "Please! Let him go!"

"Don't hurt him!" Bile cried.

"Who is this fellow, boys?" KurukVile asked Lhaklar and Bile. "I don't take kindly to him hurting my son."

"He was helping us, you should be mad at your son, not him or us." Lhaklar said.

"I am mad at my son, Lhaklar." KurukVile replied. "Baruk will be getting disciplined the second we are in camp."

"You two fought Baruk, Gaajah and Bohir in defense, we are not mad at you two." DuruVile spoke up.

"Who are you, Boy?" KurukVile jabbed his left hand into Hazaar's stomach.

"Don't touch him!" Lhaklar lunged forward again, his father pulled him back.

"Lhaklar, that's enough. He's only try..." TazirVile started to say.

"Brother!" Lhaklar lunged forward again. "He's our brother you idiots!"

"Lhaklar!" TazirVile reprimanded his son. "You know better that to use such words to us."

"He's got Angel in him, without a doubt." KurukVile sighed. "So, Angel had yet another son by a dif-..."

"Man, you best not be calling our mother a slut." Bile cut off his grandfather.

"Bile..." TazirVile said in shock. "Don't interrupt your elders, surely Angel has taught you that."

"I was not calling your mother a slut, just saying that she has another son by a different man." KurukVile said, he then looked at Hazaar. "Who are you?"

Cheshire had remained quiet throughout the exchange of frantic conversation between Lhaklar, Bile, Kuruk and Tazir, his eyes were trained on the youth that he was restraining. The youth was tall, about five foot, eleven inches in height, he was wearing a pair of multi-brown pants, faded slightly at the knees while being faded greatly at both the inner and outer thighs, and a brown shirt that was hanging out, there were brown shoes that had light brown ties on them on his feet. The youth that he had in his hands had an upside down, teardrop shaped head from which a tail of deep purple hair hung out from the nape of the back of the neck, there were two strands of the hair that were braided and there was a bright red feather braided in among them. Cheshire moved slightly so he could look at the youth's face, the young fellow had an O-shaped mouth, there were two holes were a nose would be and he had dark blue skin. The young fellow looked at him, he had a curious, yet angry, look in his eyes that Cheshire took note of. The young fellow had a hard as steel body, it was very lean but it was packed with muscle which made Cheshire think that he was around one thousand, eight hundred or so years old. The youth didn't answer Kuruk, he remained silent and that made KurukVile aggravated. Just before KurukVile could threaten the youth, Lhaklar yelled, TazirVile had to fight to keep control of his son as he had lunged out again and had gotten one of his arms loose.

"Will you control that boy of yours!" DuruVile snapped at Tazir.

"I've about had enough of this, I want to know who this guy is. He attacked my son, I do not like for anyone to harm my children and that does include my older ones." KurukVile said angrily, he grabbed Hazaar's shirt and yanked him away from Cheshire. "Who are you!"

A roar made all of them look up, an immense dragon dropped on them, KurukVile was hurled to the side by the dragon's mighty tail while DuruVile was swept away by one of the dragon's hands that had long claws on it. Bile fell to his knees, Hazaar was thrown two feet, he landed on his stomach hard and lost almost all of his wind. Cheshire and TazirVile looked at the dragon, it was a fearsome sight! The scales shone a brilliant bright red color, there were whiskers of red that trailed down from the dragon's muzzle, they swung down and curled around underneath the dragon's jaw. The dragon had a ring of emerald-green around its golden-yellow eyes that had extremely tiny black pupils in them. The dragon was forty feet long, it had a long tail that had a sharp point on the end that was fiery red. The dragons nails were white, long and sharp and the underbelly was yellow and smooth. Yellow crests were above the dragons eyes, the dragon had a feminine frill running down its back that exposed its gender. There were black wings that had dark red webbing on the inside folded up near the dragon's side. Before TazirVile could say anything, the dragon opened her mouth and breathed out a stream of black smoke which made him and Cheshire fall back, he lost his grip on Lhaklar who dropped to his side. Lhaklar got up slowly then began to limp over to the dragon.

TazirVile quickly got to his feet, the yell of terror that came out of his mouth was a few seconds too late as he saw that his son had already reached the dragon. He became terrified for his son and adopted son and, when he saw the other youth run over to the dragon he also became afraid for him. He swung his arms out and wiggled the fingers on both of his hands, he sent two globs of black acid at the dragon that splattered on the dragon's shoulder, when his black acid blobs exploded they opened up two large wounds on the dragon's shoulder. Before he sent out another attack he saw that there was someone on the dragon's back, he looked closer then gasped out in shock. The dragon had the youth that he had seen on Zeta Ren on her back.

"Momma," he heard Lhaklar say.

"Ma," he heard Bile say.

"Mommy," he heard the youth that had the tail of deep purple hair growing out from the nape on the back of his head say.

Momma? Ma? Mommy? TazirVile took a step back in shock again, of course! It had been a very long time since he had seen his wife in her dragon-form. He had not noticed the eyes, the brightness of the scales, the fiery red, sharp point on the end of the tail and he had not noticed how the dragon had stood over the three youth's that were all around her. Angel, in her dragon-form, was standing over Lhaklar, Bile and the other youngster in a protective fashion. She turned her long neck around and gave his brother a glaring look then she dipped her neck down low and nudged his son. Tazir saw his wife bring her big, dragon hand up, cup it then he saw Lhaklar climb into it. Angel held her dragon hand up, Lhaklar climbed onto her long, dragon back and sat right beside the youth he had seen on Zeta Ren about a month ago. The youth with the deep purple tail of hair that grew out from the nape of the back of his head climbed up on her back on his own after Angel nudged him gently, Bile couldn't climb, he was too tired to do so. TazirVile, KurukVile, TrobrencusVile and Cheshire all watched as Angel gently grabbed the back of his shirt with her sharp teeth, she gently then placed him on her back right behind the youth that had the tail of deep purple hair. She then turned and looked at them, her large, dragon eyes glowed with anger and they all detected a deep growl come from deep within her.

"You ever come near my sons again," she said with a deep, rumbling growl that made the animals nearby, the birds, Pronghorn Antelope and wild horses, flee in panic. "you will be sorry."

"Angel," KurukVile stepped forward, Angel swung her tail to the side and he flew off and collided with a burning tree.

"You ever hurt me babies again you'll be picking your flesh up off of the desert!" Angel growled, she then jumped up, folded her legs up, underneath of her and began flapping her wings. She flew off with her four sons, two of whom TazirVile had no clue as to who they were, on her back. TazirVile followed her until she disappeared, he was mad at himself for his actions that morning and he was confused as to who the two unknown youth's were that Angel had said were her sons. Just after Angel disappeared, with her four sons in tote, TazirVile was overcome with something else. Dread. Dread over not taking a stand in stopping Gaajah and Baruk fight Bile and Lhaklar, dread over the injuries that they had gotten that he could have prevented by putting an end to the fight and dread over what would come next. He feared that what he had done in not taking a stand to protect him sons, and the two unknown youths, had made a wedge become him and his wife and his sons.


	19. Chapter 19

The laughter was so loud that the Goblins working outside of the meeting room in their employer's ship could hear it, each and every Goblin and Goblinette paused in what he or she was doing whether it was dusting the stone statues, polishing the spheres that had a blue mist swirling about inside or just walking through on their way to a different part of the ship where they were needed for either room clearing, carpet sweeping or filter checking for a few seconds to look in the direction of the room where their employer was. After what had happened a week ago, their employer had been keeping to himself in the meeting room where he conducted all of his appointments when he was away from home whether they were business related or related in some fashion to his conquering campaigns. The meeting that he had called to take place that night was one that had required all of the adults members that had been either close to their employer's wife, Mistress Angel or were of her closest relation in her family. Eldass and Homsi were also in the room, due to their having recent contact with their mistress they had been required to attend the meeting. Losal, working near the dining room, shook his head in both misery and anger as he knew who it was that was laughing, as did Zshon and Kalach, who were near the hatch, checking to see if there were any holes in the padding between the hatch doors. Kalach got so sick of hearing the laughter that he reached into his brown tuxedo jacket, he took out two earplugs then put them in his ears to end the assault that the laughter had brought upon his ears. Zshon followed in his example then went back to work, the laughter continued to roll through the hallways of the ship that their employer owned and drove but they didn't hear it. All they heard was the peaceful quiet that their earplugs had given them.

"Vile, this isn't a time for acting outrageous." Irka said to her oldest son and child.

"I apologize but just sitting here, listening to him say that he saw my daughter with not one but two not yet identified children that have called her their mother is hilarious." Master Vile said, he reached into his black robe and took out a black silk kerchief then wiped his face with it. "Didn't I tell all of you at one time that she could not be trusted? Didn't I?"

"After I got Angel home she has shown no signs of drifting away from me." TazirVile said.

"And yet here you are, saying that there are now two, unknown, mid-teenaged boys calling her their mother." Master Vile said. "What, pray tell, does that say to everyone in this room? It's very obvious what she did after she left you with the kids."

"Tazir, keep that in mind here a bit. Before she disappeared, did she get any letters from any unknown men?" Cyla asked.

"Yeah, Gloar. He was the only one and even then, it wasn't a lot since he lived close by. The rest of her correspondence came from family." TazirVile replied.

"Who all corresponded with her?" Cyla asked.

"You and my father, my brother and Irka, my sisters, my and Kuruk's grandfather, my mother and Cheshire..." TazirVile started saying off a list of who all his wife was in contact with before she disappeared with his sons.

"Could one of the Ubalki's of gotten to her? Efagti or Amadh or..."

"I beg you pardon but my husband and sons never had anything physical to do with Angel." Ashaklar spoke up in defense of her family. "We talked to her on the phone, yes. We even sent her mail and yes, we saw her in person but neither of the men in my family did anything physical that would have produced a child with her."

"I can vouch for both my sons and I that we have had no physical, sexual contact or feelings towards her in that way." Cheshire said.

"According to my brother-in-law this new unknown youth has dark blue skin..." Cyla pointed out.

"So what! The kid had a tail of purple hair behind his head and dark purple eyes as well..." Cheshire said loudly after he stood up sharply. His wife reached up and touched his arm to calm him down. He took a few breaths then sat back down. "The only child I've sired that has hair is Defe, my youngest daughter."

"My stepfather and younger half-brothers would have had no relations with Angel." TazirVile said. "I can vouch for them myself."

TazirVile took off his goggled glasses then began rubbing his eyes, his nephew and Cyla, his father's wife, continued accusing his wife of sleeping with another Zetakin male and they kept targeting Cheshire, Amadh and Efagti in their accusations. He knew that his stepfather had not had any sort of overly physical contact with Angel, the most physical contact given to them by his wife was in her giving him a hug when she saw him, she did that with Efagti and Amadh as well. Her hugs, he knew and remembered well, were nothing for anyone to worry over. Just one of them friendly hugs, a hug of greeting was all that they had been. He trusted his stepfather and younger half-brothers to know when they were going too far, they had not over done their return hugs or had even touched his wife afterwards. Sure, when his mother, stepfather and their family came over for a week to a week and a half stay Angel had spent time with them. He had caught her working out in the gym with Cheshire and Amadh once or twice, he had caught her swimming in his in-door pool with his mother and Qeeta once or twice. She had spent time with them because they were family, he had detected no wrong-meaning feelings between his Universal Wife and his stepfather, same went for Efagti and Amadh and Angel had shown no signs at all that she was doing anything behind his back when he had walked into the room where she, his stepfather or she, Amadh or Efagti had been in such as in jumping up, scrambling all over herself or stuttering or stammering. TazirVile stood up, with his standing everyone who had been fussing at the meeting table quieted.

"Enough, my stepfather is innocent as is his sons. I trust them fully to not try anything overbearing with my wife." He said, putting an end to the madness that his nephew and Cyla continued to voice towards his stepfather and his sons. He then got down to the meetings main point of business. "I did not get a good look at the kid that was seen a week ago. Kuruk, you grabbed the kid. You got a good look at him right?"

"Heh, Little Brother I was so worked up after the fight that I couldn't keep my eyes focused." KurukVile admitted.

"Father..."

"I was busy trying to keep Bile under control. Didn't you see the kid?" DuruVile answered quickly then asked his own question.

"No, I, too, was busy in keeping one of the boys under control." TazirVile sighed. "Who restrained the kid?"

"That would be me," Cheshire said. "and I probably was the only one that got a good look at the kid. Before Kuruk grabbed him, I looked him over."

"What did he look like?" TazirVile asked.

"Tall, about five foot, eleven inches. Dark blue skin, deep purple eyes, a tail of deep purple hair that came out from the back of the head..." Cheshire then began to fumble a little on the description. He struggled for a short while then bunched his left hand into a fist and slammed it onto the table. It made a loud bang that echoed about the room. "Tazir, that's the basic description. I remember more but I can't put it into words at the moment. You have a keen knowledge of Telepathy right?"

"Spent three hundred years in the University of Telepathy," TazirVile replied. "why?"

"I give you permission to search through my mind for the memory of me getting a good look at that kid."

He had searched the minds of his family only a handful of times, the most recent having been done two thousand, one hundred years ago when he had received permission from his brother, grandfather and father on using their memories as evidence when he had taken his nephew to the Elder Courts to get him off of his and Angel's backs. He hated the idea of heading into his stepfather's mind to find the memory of when he had looked at the new unknown youth that Lhaklar and Bile had been so worked up about and had called their brother but, since his stepfather said he had gotten a good look at the youngster he had to. TazirVile stood up, he brushed imaginary particles off of his dark grey striped tuxedo jacket that had twin tails that reached down to the floor then walked forward. Cheshire stood up, as did Efagti and Amadh who each took one of his arms. Just as he stepped up in front of his stepfather he decided to not search Cheshire's mind the normal way, there was another way to search his stepfather's mind and have everyone at the table see it. TazirVile walked off, leaving the family at the table thinking that he had gotten cold feet, to the large, stone bookshelf that was in his meeting room. He had several hollow boxes on the shelf that had documents, blank pieces of paper that were either a white, pink or gray color and military strategy notebooks store in them. He emptied three of the hollow boxes then brought them over to the table, he then took out his wand that was in the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket and placed it on the right temple of his stepfather's head.

"Memoria Exemplar," he said strongly, he then swung his wand up, a bright blue strand had attached itself to the end of his wand. The Memoria Exemplar spell was a spell used by one who had keen knowledge of Telepathy, it was a spell used to make a copy of a specific memory of the spell users choosing. "purpura quoque et senes juvenem."

DuruVile wished that his son would stop calling the man that his mother had married his stepfather, to him it was an insult. He saw Cheshire as nothing to his son, the full-blooded Zetakin hadn't raised him, treated the wounds on his body, disciplined him or even payed for his educations. All he had done was marry his son's mother and father a family through her. Cheshire Ubalki, in his mind, was not even worthy of being a father, sure he had fathered three sons back-to-back, sure he had fathered two daughter's afterwards then had sired another son after the second daughter had been born, it meant nothing to him except that the man had had enough fire in him to create the Y-chromosome in the single strand of semen that had made it to the egg before the others that had been shot out at the same time. Cheshire Ubalki had no grandchildren, he had plenty. Cheshire Ubalki had no great-grandchildren, he had a few. Cheshire Ubalki was a farmer and a miner, he was a conqueror whose name was known far and wide. DuruVile watched as his son disconnected the light blue strand from Cheshire's temple then tossed it at the wall. As the memory played, he watched and when the youth that they had seen a week ago began to be shown his son stood, poised and ready with his wand.

"Comminuet!" his son said loudly.

The copied memory stopped playing just at the image of the back of the youth's head. DuruVile saw the deep purple tail of hair that came out from the nape of the back of the head, there were two strands of the tail of deep purple hair that were braided and there was a bright red feather imbedded within the braids. TazirVile waved his wand to the side after saying a charm that allowed for him to grab the image, he placed it in one of the hollow, 12 x 12 boxes then he turned and resumed watching the copied memory. He didn't have to wait for long before the memory that he had made a copy of showed a facial image of the youngster, he said comminuet again to make the copied memory pause then he took that image after repeating the charm he had said to make the image connect to the end of his wand. He put that image in another 12 x 12 hollow box then he went back to viewing the copied memory. It didn't take long before he decided that the two images he had taken were enough, he let the memory end then he swung his arm, from a bowl of water nearby rose a stream of water that he threw at the wall. While the wall was wiped clean by a Goblin maid, he turned and went to the two, 12 x 12 hollow boxes that had the still liquid-like images in them. He ran his hand over the two boxes, froze the images then said a spell to make the two images replicate. He then swung his hand up, the now papered images were caught by a gust of air that came out from his hand. Everyone but Cheshire, who was experiencing a bout of light-headedness due to having his mind searched through then having a copy of one of his memories created, grabbed and looked at the images that flew above their heads.

"Hazaar?" QeetaVile said when she looked at the facial photo of the youth that her brother had taken from Cheshire's copied memory.

"He does look quite a lot like him." Irka said. "Especially with that tail of hair."

"I do agree with you two. He grew the hair out I see." DuruVile sighed, even he thought that the youth in the memorically made photograph was Hazaar.

"You tried so hard to get Tazzy to shave that tail of hair off of his son's head," Ashaklar said. "I remember clearly that you said that it made him look outrageous and that his little tail of deep purple hair would make him look not serious when he grew up."

"This looks very much like Hazaar!" TazirVile said excitedly. "He was a hundred years old when he and his brothers disappeared with Angel. He'd be..."

"One thousand, seven hundred years old now. Just starting his early mid-teens by our standards." Ashaklar said.

"You sure have some fine-looking sons, Brother." QeetaVile said. "Lhaklar is one that will have the women swooning, Hazaar..."

"How can you be fully certain that this is who you think he is?" Master Vile asked. "Could be another kid that looks like him."

"Hazaar had dark blue skin, so does this fellow." Ashaklar began running the similarities between her sons secondborn son and the youth in the photograph. "Hazaar had slanted, oval eyes that were not only shiny, but were also a dark, a very dark, purple color. So does this fellow. Hazaar also was born with a deep purple tail of hair that had been just barely sticking out from the nape of the back of his head."

"So, out of your three biological sons only three have been seen alive and well." ShaamVile said, he then sighed. "No sign of Lazeer though, right?"

"Sir, if I may," Homsi spoke up, he had remained quiet throughout the meeting and, after seeing the photographs of the new youth that his master had seen he was excited. "there is one youth that is still unidentified. Could he not be Young Master Lazeer?"

"If that one youth turned out to be him I'll drop to my knees." TazirVile replied. "But... Lazeer was so little and fragile, Hazaar was so much more stronger than he was when he was born. It'll be a surprise if he is still alive but I highly doubt if that other fellow is Lazeer."

"Should I head to Gamma-Vile and remove the tombstone in the cemetary behind my son's house, Lad?" ShaamVile asked his grandson.

"Y-..."

"No, I'd wait." DuruVile cut his secondborn son off. "Wait until we see this fellow again and get an assured confirmation."

"I am sure that what we have here in this memorically made photograph is Hazaar, dad." QeetaVile said.

"Although I agree with my sister, and I do believe that this is my secondborn son, we will wait." TazirVile said, he then stood up. "Eldass... Homsi..."

"Sir," Eldass said.

"Yes, Master Tazir." Homsi said, he stood up from his chair at the sound of his name.

"Head back into the city that you saw my wife last, do a good scouting in the city. Ask questions, take a camera with you. If you see my sons, and that does include Bile," TazirVile looked over at Master Vile who scowled at him. "take a picture of them. Do the same if you see that other fellow, the one with the periwinkle-blue skin that has the thin line of red hair going from the sides of his head to the back."

"Yessir, Master Tazir." Homsi bowed the left the meeting room, Eldass followed behind him.

"In the mean time, I'll send several Goblins to the county that Angel said she and the boys lived in. Park County." TazirVile said. "Camp will remain here, if any of you wish to leave and return to your lives or head someplace else to do a different search you can."

_Goblins? In Park County_

_In a flurry of reports from the day before, many citizens in Park County reported to authorities sightings of Goblins, little green, brown or blue skinned men that were either reported wearing tuxedos or jungle outifts, in various places within the county. Although the reports were taken serious, nothing was found in any of the locations where the reported Goblins were seen which makes for authorities to believe that the calls were sent in by prankers. All security footage was screened by the authorities to see if the reported Goblins were seen in the reported establishments of Kay Jewelers, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Food Lion, Walmart and a pawn shop called Charles Pawn n Sell, nothing was found on the tapes except for static. No Goblins were seen on the tapes and, so far, no new reports have been called in on the fabled, lengendary little creatures that became known in folk lore in the 12th century._

_Big Horn County Experiences Prank Calls?_

_Park County, Wyoming experienced its own brand of prank calls about the fabled Goblins two days before, it seems that now that the prankers have moved on to Big Horn County, the county right beside Park County. Ten reports total all claim that Goblins, either having blue, brown or green skin and ranging in either above four and a half feet or a full five feet tall and all reports claim that these reported Goblins were wearing tuxedos with one Goblin reported as wearing what one would wear on safari. The authorities stopped taking further calls after the tenth call was put in, one caller claimed that she was taken captive and questioned as to where the reported Goblin's, master's "children and wife" were. It is estimated that 20 calls were placed, ten of those were investigated with nothing being found._

_Hot Springs, Washakie and Johnson County Authorities Debunk Goblins_

_The denizens of Hot Springs, Washakie and Johnson Counties have all been put on curfew until the pranksters have been apprehended. As with Park and Big Horn County, Hot Springs, Washakie and Johnson counties have all experienced a flurry of reports on Goblins entering to find their reported "master's" wife and children, which number in the reported 3. The authorities have now been tracing calls placed about the Goblins, men that are either four and a half or five feet tall that had blue, green or brown skin that wear tuxedos or, in the case of one, a safari outfit complete with khaki shorts. It has been reported that twenty persons have been arrested for placing prank calls, all who claim that they are innocent, the last call about the fabled Goblins that have entered stores, stolen videos, books and games and who have been terrorizing the citizens of the towns in the counties through abduction and brutal questioning was placed at 6:56pm Wednesday, September 21, 4099 by a woman who claimed that a brown-skinned Goblin abducted her, threatened her with violence then questioned her about the whereabouts of his "master's" wife and children. The woman was arrested and is still sticking to her story as are all the others who are still in jail for their prank calling._

Lhaklar cut the article out and put it in the folder that he had been putting the other articles, whether from Earth or from another planet. He had been keeping up to date, as had his mother and brothers, and, although Lazeer joked about the Goblin sightings and got everyone laughing something awful with his jokes about the little green, brown and blue-skinned Goblin men running rampant, making the cops go crazy with the calls and making the humans in the towns in the counties go crazy with worry over looking up to see a Goblin looking at them from the kitchen window, he wasn't laughing or joining in on the jokes. To him, the Goblins running around the northern counties should be taken seriously. His mother had surprised him. Normally, she was one of the serious ones in the house. Normally, she'd come home, ask how their day was then she'd say how her day was before heading off to the cellar. He'd follow her and conversation would be started on adult-related topics such as finances, where the money was going to be gotten from for this bill or that, where the money was going to be coming from for Lazeer's glass and where the money was going to be coming from for food for the cabinets along with each of their worries and concerns. While his mother's main worries were keeping the apartment stocked with food for her growing boys, getting the bills payed on time and Lazeer's glass, his main concern was purely on his brothers. He worried that Hazaar would run off one day after having a temper tantrum or hurt himself after having one of his temper tantrums or hurt one of them during one of his temper tantrums. He was worried that Bile didn't seem to have any sort of responsible bone in his body. He worried that Lazeer might not be able to go outside and enjoy the sun, he worried that Lazeer might get so depressed that he might try something dangerous, he worried that Lazeer wouldn't ever get his goggled glass... oh it went on and on for him. In the week and three days since the fight he and his brothers had had with Baruk, Gaajah and Bohir and then had had to put up with their father and KurukVile, he had only been able to work twice.

Lhaklar, after he added the three articles to his folder that had all the other articles in it that he had been cutting out from the papers that had been sent in by Granny Dione or thrown at their doorstep, stood up. He running his hand gingerly down his left arm then walked out of the kitchen. His mother had done all that she could to heal up his burned arm, she had used her Water Healing power, a sub-power in the Elemental Water power, on his arm for all of ten minutes to try to get his burn to heal up. He had nearly started crying, the pain had been that bad for him. His brothers, even in their pained states, had done all that they could to calm him down but their trying and their words of comfort had fallen on nearly deaf ears. He had started feeling the pain right after being placed on his mother's dragon-formed back, it hadn't been bad then but he had noticed it, by the time that his mother had flown into the shield it had begun to grip him stronger, when he had slid down from his mother's dragon-formed back the pain had taken him over fully. His mother had led all of them into the living room, had gotten them all to sit down on the sleeper sofa or in the big, brown chair that was near the sleeper sofa then she had gone to get the medical supplies. She had come back with several tubes and jars of creams, several rolls of bandaging and a big bowl of water. Since he was experiencing the most pain, she had started her healing powers on him first.

The cuts on his face had been treated last, they had been fully healed by her healing powers, but his arm was a totally different story. He had come back with second and third degree burns on his left arm of the extreme sort. Pain had roared up and down his arm, he had felt it run down his shoulder then course down the rest of his body, it was much like being bitten by a full colony of fire ants to him, it was like his whole body was throbbing. His mother had done her best, making the water rise up from the bowl, rolling it around his arm until it turned brown then putting it back so it could turn back to it normal color so she could try again. It took her over five tries before his arm had started to look better, by the time she had done her Water Healing on him for the tenth time the pain had subsided. He still had high-level first and second degree burns on his arm, his arm still hurt him but he was glad that his mother had helped him otherwise he might very well be in the hospital where a doctor would be saying that his arm needed to be operated on or worse, chopped off. After he had been treated for his wounds, he had gone upstairs for a much needed rest.

After a full day of sleeping and then another day of just lying in bed because he was just too damn sore to get up and walk about, his mother had come upstairs for him and his brother, Bile had joined him in the room that they shared sometime after he had been healed and he had also spent two days in bed as well. Both he and his brother had been so stiff and sore that they could barely go down the stairs, their mother had been right beside them, her arm around their waist, letting them lean on her, when they had gotten downstairs she had taken them to the kitchen where they had found their two younger brothers, Hazaar and Lazeer, seated at the table that had a melody of foods on it. They had eaten big bowls of Spaghetti, baked potatoes, bowls of salad and then dessert, a lovely Black Forest cake that had white frosting and strawberries dotting along the rim of the top of the cake had been served. After that, they had all been helped back to their rooms for another rest, it had taken all of them a full four days before they could get up on their own, this was the first day he had been able to walk around without feeling any type of overbearing pain that would send him falling back on his rump saying that he was going to sit around his and Bile's room for a little while longer.

"Hey," Hazaar said when he walked into the living room.

"Hey," Lhaklar replied.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah, not as sore as I was but still pretty sore." Lhaklar replied.

"Same here."

Lhaklar looked at his younger brother, Hazaar had come home with an acid burn, courtesy of their father, on his back, his leg had been blasted almost fully of its flesh and his ribs had been very badly bruised from having good, ol' Uncle Kuruk casting his double Energy balls and strands at him. Their mother had done all that she could for the acid burn on his back and for his right leg but, in the end, like his arm, her powers could only do but so much. His back was wrapped up, their mother would undo the bandaging, apply a cream then re-bandage it up each night, she said that his back was getting better every day and it did look to be doing so. His leg, the poor guy couldn't walk without a very noticable limp that looked painful, their mother had been able to heal it up with her Fire Healing power, another of her sub-powers in the Elemental Powers that she had been able to acquire but this one belonged to another of her elements in the power, this one belonging the the Elemental Fire group. Hazaar's leg was wrapped up gently, their mother had only been able to heal the wound but so much, the flesh on the wound that Uncle Kuruk had caused with his red lightning bolt had only grown back its first layer, she was constantly undoing the bandaging, applying creams and medications then re-bandaging it.

"Bile," Lhaklar said, he then nodded his head at his brother who was seated in the Laz-Y-Boy chair that was on the far side of the living room.

"Lhaklar," Bile said.

"Look well this morning."

"Feel better than I was a week ago." Bile admitted. "Very stiff and sore, still, but feel better."

Bile, seated in the Laz-Y-Boy recliner that was velvet brown, looked like one of them drunk men that were on the shows that Hazaar and Lazeer liked to watch. He was wearing just a pair of red and white shorts and a white shirt that was baggy, this wasn't his normal, in fact he was wearing his night-clothes, the clothes that he changed into before he went to bed each and every night. Their mother had done her best with healing his wounds, his right shoulder had been healed fully by her Water Healing powers, the deep gash in his chest had been treated with human-made medications and bandaged up as had the injuries on his legs. Like him, Bile's burned arm had needed to be tended several times. Bile had arrived home experiencing pain as well, all caused by his burned right arm, it had hurt him so bad that he had pounded the arm of the chair that he had seated himself in and was sitting in now with his fist. Bile had come home to find that he had first and second degree burns on his arm, not as severe as the burns he had received during the fight but still pretty bad. Their mother, who had saved him for last on his request, had been near exhausted by the time she had reached him and, instead of using her Water Healing power on him she had done a quick Fire Healing session on his arm that had gotten some surprising results. Due to his burns not being very deep and not as severe as his, his right arm had nearly been healed fully. It had still been wrapped up in a bandage and it still caused him pain.

"Who's winning the game?" Lhaklar asked, his two, younger brothers were playing a football game on the thirty inch tv that was set up on a short, brown walnut entertainment center.

"At the moment, Lazeer." Bile replied. "Was back and forth for a short while, he's two points ahead."

"Extra point, hell yeah!" Lazeer exclaimed.

"Make that three." Bile said.

Lazeer, who had the red remote to the square box that had a red light on the top, had come off better than they with his injuries. Although he had not been involved in any of the fighting, he had gotten his shoulder injured after being struck by a car after the sun had hit his sensitive eye. Their mother had used done one session with her Water Healing ability on him then she had said for him to go get his eye drops. She had helped him put the drops in then she had gone on to dealing with Bile's injuries. Lazeer, for the past week and three days, had acted as a sort of nurse for them. He had brought them food and drink, things to read like the newspaper or magazines that he had bought over the past few months and he had also brought them games to play. He and Lazeer had played chess and checkers three days in a row while Bile, for four days straight, had enjoyed an age-old favorite, he had put in one of Lazeer's old gameboy games, he believed the game had been Pacman but he wasn't fully sure, into Lazeer's Gameboy device. The Gameboy machine that Lazeer had was one from the old days, their mother had found it one day in the scrap yard and had fixed it up for him. She had also found a bag full of old games for him the day after finding the device. The Gameboy was old but damn did it ever play fine. Their mother had really fixed it up finely, the same as the Nintendo 64 that Lazeer and Hazaar were playing. She had found that, the Super Nintendo and the four Playstation units at the scrap yard as well and had fixed all of them up. She had bought several games from the Flea Market for them but most of the games that they had she, with he and Bile following, had found in the scrap yard. He and his brothers were marvelously happy to have their gaming systems, their mother joined in on playing the games from time to time and they had also caught her playing Super Mario 64 twice on her own so they knew that, along with themselves, she was also happy to have the systems of old in the apartment. Hazaar, who hadn't been able to tend to his hair in a week and three days, and Lazeer were playing a game called Madden Football 64, a football game that had been released in 1997. There was small pile beside them, it looked as if his younger brothers had played Duck Hunt, The Legend of Zelda and Super Black Bass, the latter being a game for the console above the Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo.

"You want in?" Lazeer asked, his younger brothers had completed their game, Hazaar was looking for another game from the pile on the lower shelf to play now.

"No, thank you but no." Lhaklar said. "Think I've been cooped up long enough, Think I'll head out. Maybe a dip in the spring or something will help my sore body."

"Lhaklar, you insane? Ma would flip her lid first then come out looking for you second then you'd be chased around all of Green River with a nice, fresh out of the washing machine, dish towel third." Bile said.

"They're up in the north, nothing to worry over." Lhaklar said. "I'll be near Expedition Island, if I'm not back by noon then you know what to do."

As with the previous three days, he threw a red tack on the map of his general location then turned around and looked at the Goblins in the room that he had been sending out these past few days to search the counties and the towns and cities within them that were housed in the shields that his wife had put up over two thousand years ago. Each Goblin in the room that he was in was a member of his staff that he had sent out to search the areas up in the north near the county that Eldass and Homsi had said that his wife had told them that she and her sons lived. He had sent out his staff over his militia after finding out that his army wasn't doing its job in adequate searching, he had truly believed that his staff would do a better job and yet, three days later, he had nothing but air and a map that had red tacks on it that said the area in which his Goblins had searched had garnered nothing in return. With the tack in place and his anger noted, he walked over and sat in the chair that was at the head of the long, stone table that was in his meeting room.

"I'd like for an explanation as to what the hell all of you were thinking when I sent you off to do your searches? I recall clearly giving the order to be as secrete as possible and yet," he grabbed a folder that was in front of him that was open that had several articles in it that he had clipped out himself and held it up. "ten sightings in Park County, twenty in Big Horn and over thirty combined from Hot Springs, Washakie and Johnson counties... that's over sixty sightings! That is not secrete! That is you hanging your asses out in the open."

"Sir, up in the north there was some sort of festival going on. A lot of humans were walking about." Losal spoke up a few seconds after his master had spoken. "We did our best to remain in the shadows but..."

"Your best is peanuts when you've been seen by the public eye!" TazirVile threw the folder that had the articles he had clipped out in it at Losal. The Goblin held his hands up to avoid being hit in the face by the articles that had flown freely from the folder. TazirVile then turned to Homsi who stayed sitting confidently in his chair. "I sent Homsi and Eldass into Green River the day that I also sent them and you and Kalach into Park County, there were no reports from Green River about them and their activities now are there?"

"No sir," Losal replied miserably.

"Then what's the damn problem! You and the others that I sent out have the same education as they did and yet here we are. Reports of abductions, threats, thefts and now human civilians being thrown in jail because the law on this planet thinks that they are causing disruption."

"We had to question the humans and..." Losal started to say, Eldass interrupted him quick.

"We've been using the memory block spell on the humans we have captured to interrogate and we have been checking the area we are in before we jump in to grab a human."

"That's smarts," TazirVile said. "Mr. Zultoa and Modulavich have both used their educations well and have come back with good intel from the town closest to us while all you and the other Goblins in this room have done is make yourselves known to the general public." when no one said a thing, he slammed his fist against the surface of the table. "I expect better from all of you! All of you were picked because you were associated with my wife in some degree. If you're not going to use your time here on this planet to assist in finding my wife or sons or in keeping my ship tidy then leave. I want my wife and all of you at this table have hindered my efforts for three long days. Begone!"

They were all thinking the same thing when they exited the meeting room that was directly across their personal lounge that was in their master's ship. It could have been worse. Their master could have really gotten on their cases for what the ten Goblins from his army that he had personally hand-picked to go to the counties with them had done. Although they had been gotten on, it wasn't fully a full on-you insultation, if it had been one of those then their master would have jumped all over their cases then had sent them off with a wave of his arm after overturning his chair after he had stood up abruptly. His getting-on wasn't fully meant, they worked and they worked hard. The ship was spotless, so much so that their master could eat off of the floors, and there was not a speck of dust or dirt anywhere and everything was working properly. The room that they had come from had a full brown carpet, brown walls and a light brown ceiling. There was a long, full stone table in the room that had a gold T and Z, their master's initials, that had fourteen stone chairs that had red cushions on the seats pulled up to it. There were several screens in the room, half of them were the clear imaging kind while the others gave off green images, the green screens were the ones that had their coordinates, destinations, there were two radar determining screens and one navy green sonar screen, underneath all of these screens were the computer keyboards and command centers. On the wall was an oil painting of their master, he was standing, proud as could be after winning a battle on one of his conquered planets. He had been painted shirtless, the muscle, scars, sweat and blood on his chest had been painted well as had the background imagery that was an exploding building on a waterfront, trees that were on fire and people running away from the army behind him that was his own. Homsi, thinking better than to go to the lounge like most of his co-workers were doing, decided to head outside. He wasn't far off from the hatchway, just a short fifty feet, when he exited his master's ship he was greeted with a chilly breeze. The doors behind him slid shut, sealing the ship and its heated air behind him. He took two steps then felt the hot air that flowed throughout his master's ship hit him in the back, Eldass and his son, Zshon, exited the ship behind him.

"Cold this morning!" Zshon exclaimed, he shuddered once when a chilled breeze hit him. "What did the thermometer say before we exited?"

"Forty-six degrees," Eldass replied. "About right for this time of year on this planet, gets colder later on in the season."

"How much colder, papa?" Zshon asked.

"Goes down into the negatives." Eldass replied. "Coat, double coat and triple coat weather."

"Or else, mother will be on us worse than a hot coal." Zshon elbowed his father in the ribs, his father snickered.

"Glad we brought our coats." Homsi said, he had grabbed his brown trench coat from the employee closet near the hatchway before exiting the ship and had thrown it on just as he had left his master's ship. "Hope Mistress Angel and her sons are alright. Staying warm and fed well."

"I am sure she has herself and her sons well warm and fed." Eldass said. "The more pressing question, for me, is where are they."

"A question I would also like to know." Homsi said.

Homsi looked out at the landscape that had changed almost overnight from being slightly dry and arid, having little green grass but plenty of brown, dead and tall grass and lots of hooved animals like deer, Pronghorn Antelope and moose to being a landscape that looked completely dead. The grass had withered away, the long shoots of yellow and brown grass near the edge of a forest had dropped and had dried completely to expose the outline of the forest beyond, the raging Green River that their master had set camp up next to was frozen in several places and several trees had already lost their foliage. There was not an animal in sight. There was a cloud of steam rising up from the north, about half a mile away and that belonged to the areas only hot spring. He and Losal had explored that area fully a week earlier, it was barren all around it, rocks jutted up from the ground all over, the ground looked almost sandy in form but that was just because the dirt had been dried so finely, the entire area looked not very appealing to the nake eye and seemed to have a sign on it that said enter at your own risk. The only thing that kept the women, and a few of the men, in the camp that his master had set up going there was the hot spring. The water was warm, not scolding or boiling hot, and it did provide for some comforting moments. He had tried the hot spring once during the night when nearly everyone was in bed sleeping, the hot spring had done its trick to relieving his stresses and had helped to relieve his muscles some. He hadn't stayed long, just fifteen minutes. Homsi couldn't believe that the humans didn't head to such locations, surely such a place would be a hot-spot for wary, tired or pained humans looking for a reliever of their daily stresses.

"Don't see why we can't head out for a stroll," Homsi thought, he walked down the ramp then took a turn and went towards the hot spring. Eldass and Zshon, having nothing to do as it was nearly ten in the morning and it was, technically, their break time, followed him. Losal, when he came out from the ship, ran to catch up.

For one who was not sore, the taking off of the clothing items was easy but for him and his tired and sore body it was hard. He let his brown, wool jacket fall behind him then slowly, and painfully, undid the buttons on his brown, button down, long sleeve shirt that had light green stripes going down it vertically, slid that off then undid his pants. He sat down on the ground after undoing the button and zipper on his pants and began to untie his brown shoes, he slid them off then pulled his brown socks, he then struggled to get up on his knees. With the last of what he believed was his strength, he lowered his pants and underwear at the same time, kicked them off then he crawled forward. He left everything, his clothing, his wallet with his fake I.D. and twenty dollars cash in it and his cigarette case that glistened in the glow of the chilled near afternoon sun, in an uneven pile behind him as he crawled forward. When he got to the edge of the hot spring he didn't slide in like a normal being would, he ducked his head low then allowed for the weight of his body to take over into the water. Once his body smacked into the water his muscles screamed out, first in pain then in relief as the warm water began its magic on him. He stayed underwater for only a few seconds then he surfaced. Just one dip seemed to of rejuvenated him, he was able to bring his arms up to wipe the water off from his face and head without experiencing any pain. The area around him was bleak, dirt that had been bleached by the heat and had a consistency akin to sand shone brilliantly in the almost afternoon sun, there was a line of bushes that ran around the outer edges of the bleached grounds of the hot spring then the landscape got wild with foliage life. There was a beaten path separating the trees that had gotten their loud, autumn colored leaves, roots jutted up from the ground in winding ways, rocks, old tires and other cast off items littered the grounds beyond the spring, he had near severed one of his fingers on a broken glass bottle that had become overgrown with moss and roots when he had been younger, the scar on the base of his index finger was his reminder of that day.

His trip to the hot spring had been a long one, he had started off at nine, had left the apartment with his brown wool jacket slung over his arm then he had stopped long enough to painfully wrap it around his shoulders. He had tried to teleport to the train yard that wasn't far from the shield that was around the town that he and his family lived in but, due to his sore physical state he had only been able to teleport half way to the train yard, he had had to walk the rest of the way. Each and every step had hurt, each and every movement had hurt him and, as if to make matters worse, the wind had really slowed him up to a snail's pace which had made for coming to the hot spring even worse as it had taken longer. In all, it had taken him an hour and five minutes to get to the hot spring and then it had taken nearly four minutes to undress. He had not even bothered with checking around to see if there was anything or anyone in the area that would want to harm him, just seeing the circle of heated water that had a cloud of steam above it and a tornado of stream going up from it had made the word relief completely dominate his mind. Now, leaned up against the rocky edge of the relief giving, naturally heated hot spring he took in his surroundings. He looked around, his head and neck looked much like the periscope in a submarine as they were the only things up out of the water. When he saw that there was nothing in the neighborhood, animal or otherwise, he calmed down. Feeling froggy, he swung his arm up and made the ground underneath his cigarette case shoot up. His cigarette case, a sturdy, aluminum, cigarette-length box that opened flatwise symmetrically on hinges into two halves that was silver that had an engraving of a bull deer jumping over a fallen log on the front, flew through the air for only a second or two until it dropped into his hand. Lhaklar opened it, marveling at the inside which he had coated in red velvet years ago after he had bought it from the pawn shop that was near his workplace in downtown, then he took out one of the six black papered cigarettes that was held nicely by the spring that he had also added after purchasing the box. He put the cigarette in his mouth, lit it by making a small flame appear on the tip of his left index finger then he took one puff before leaning his head back.

"Worth every damn step here," he said to himself, he turned around slightly to put his cigarette case down on the ground near him then turned back around, he lowered himself so that only the very top part of his shoulders, neck and head were out of the water. "Bile-O, you missed out on this one. Would have helped out them sore muscles and given you some natural pain relief."


	20. Chapter 20

As she stared at the memorically taken photographs of the youngster that her father thought was one of the youngest of her younger brothers, Eshal couldn't help but feel herself wonder if he was who he was thought to be. True, like her grandmother had pointed out so many times, he looked so much like Hazaar, true, he had the deep purple tail of hair that Hazaar had been born with, she didn't want to disagree with her grandmother or her father on anything but her mind told her to not yet put the missing piece of the puzzle in yet. Her father had set up a spare room in his ship just for the information that they had discovered on her missing family, it was so full already that she had to be careful or else something would be knocked down or, if she read through the numerous articles that had been put out as of the past few weeks, be misplaced. There had been many reporters phoning in every day for the past week, asking if there was anything new going on and her father would always say no. As far as she knew, her father had asked others in the camp to keep their mouths shut on the events that were happening and, so far, his wishes were being honored. It had been a week and three days since the last article had been written and published, the one that she had looked at before looking at the memorically taken photographs of the youngster that her father thought was one of her little brothers was from a Kronatuun Agoti, he had called in asking if Hazaar had been seen a week and three days before and when he had gotten no answer from her father he had called up her grandfather. Her grandfather had said that Hazaar had not been seen and that he believed that her little brother, who she had called her BroSis at one time when he had been a baby, had perished in one of the plagues or natural disasters, that Kronatuun Agoti had taken what he had said, had formed a bunch of already known stuff around it then had published it without batting an eyelash.

She hadn't seen any of her brothers since seeing Bile and Lhaklar that one time, she truly thought that, by there being so many in the camp and by them being attacked by Baruk, Gaajah and Bohir, they had been scared off. She had said this to her grandmother after breakfast and she had said that that was ridiculous, she had said that the boys had been injured and were just lying low, letting their tired, sore and pained bodies heal up before coming back out. Even her grandfather, Cheshire, had said this and her father had also said this to her when he had found out that she had said that she had thought that Bile and Lhaklar had been scared off. The adults were doing their best to keep the spirits up of all the younger kids, they were saying that it'd all come to an end and soon but she was really wondering if that was truly going to happen or if they were going to just be sitting in camp for months that stretched into years waiting for another sighting. With there being nothing found from when her father had sent the Goblins into Park, Big Horn, Washakie and Johnson counties, Eshal was really beginning to wonder if her mother and younger brothers even lived or resided nearby. She was beginning to wonder if her mother and younger brothers were living a sort of nomadic life. Eldass and Homsi had said that her mother had been working when they had seen her a week and three days ago, they said that she had been seen working at the Food Lion in Green River, Wyoming which was a short mile from where they were, she was wondering if they had mistaken her outfit, especially the apron, for something else. Eshal sighed then turned away from the memorically taken photographs of the youth that was thought to be Hazaar and walked out of the room. She turned and walked right into her father.

"Being your father, I'm a bit suspicious of your quick exit. What was you up to in there, Eshal?" her father asked her.

"Nothing daddy, just looking around the room." Eshal answered. "Mostly looking at them images, trying to figure out who that guy is."

"Eshal, you should know who that young fellow is." her father said quickly. "Your brother, Hazaar. No matter what anyone says, that's Hazaar."

"How can you be sure, daddy?" Eshal asked, she gave him one of them inquiring looks, a look where one was looking for an answer but who also didn't want to know that answer. "I don't want you to look like a fool if that guy is not Hazaar. What is he's someone else, a son from..."

"You've been hanging around Cyla too much," her father said, he walked over to her, wrapped his arm around her shoulder then escorted her back into the room. "that woman hasn't been looking at things in my perspective, Eshal. She looks at this photograph here," TazirVile had stopped himself and his daughter in front of the memorically taken photographs of the youth that he believed was his secondborn son. "and she says that it is not who I think it is yet look at your grandmother. Look at your aunt, Qeeta. Even granddaddy Cheshire says that this is Hazaar. What does that say to you, Eshal? Does that say that this is Hazaar or is this still an unknown to you?"

"Dad, I've looked at this photograph and the one of Hazaar from when he was a baby. Yes, they look alike but what if that," Eshal pointed at the memorically taken photograph of who her father kept saying was one of her younger brothers. "is not Hazaar? I don't want you to be hurt anymore, I don't want to see you hurting anymore. If that..."

"I truly believe it is and if he is who I think he is there will be pain. A happy pain, sweetheart. A pain of finding out that one of the younger of my sons is alive and well." TazirVile said.

"But what if he is not?"

"When was the last time you went out on the town?" her father asked her, he was reaching into his slate gray tuxedo jacket that had a split tail in the back that went down almost to his knees. "You've had it rough these past few weeks, maybe some away time will do you some good."

Eshal, a typical, upper teenage girl, saw her father reaching into his slate gray tuxedo jacket that had a split tail in the back as a sign that she was about to be given some money to go shopping. Her father usually gave her two, one hundred-dollar bills to go spend on whatever she wanted and, usually, she was sent off on her own with no escorts or body guards or family members asking if she was done yet or if she had bought the entire store after they saw her bags. Her father took out his brown leather check book that he usually kept several hundred, fifty and twenty-dollar bills in, opened it then reached in. When was the last time she had gone out on a little time on the town to relieve her of her stresses? To just get out and away from things, get her mind together, feel free and feel her age? The answer to that was two months ago, her father had given her a hundred and a twenty-dollar bill then had gently given her the boot in the behind to get her going along with giving off a little joke of _don't you return unless you've got bags and are penny-broke_. Eshal was surprised at the wad of cash that her father placed in her hand, she counted slowly, two, one hundred-dollar bills then, just before he placed his check book back inside his tuxedo jacket he reopened it and took out a fifty dollar bill and placed that on top. A whopping $250, all hers to spend on herself, no one else but herself. Eshal, full of excitement and happiness, jumped up and hugged her father tightly before running out of the room that her father had set up with all of the articles, photographs, both of the security still type and of the memorically taken type, and tape recordings of her mother and younger brothers. Her father exited the room behind her, shaking his head and chuckling.

"Ah, the happiness of a teenage girl after you give her money to head out on the town to spend." Cheshire, who had seen his granddaughter run out of the room, said. He had just done the same thing with his oldest daughter, Blaiga. He had sent her off with $275 cash money to spend on the town nearest his and his wife's residence.

"I can imagine it being less exciting for a son when a father hands off money for him to spend on an outing." TazirVile said.

"Any child acts excited when it comes to a little monetary spoiling but yes, male teenagers don't much act as excited as a female teenager does when money is planted in their hands." Cheshire said. "Same as when you give a wife some money."

"I do miss seeing that light in Angel's eyes whenever I slid a hundred and fifty into her hand." TazirVile sighed. "Can't wait to see it again."

"Like you've said so many times, it's just a matter of time." Cheshire said.

TazirVile smiled, gave his stepfather a pat on the shoulder then turned and walked away, his stepfather went in the opposite direction that he went, he had just gotten a call from his wife who was out with their daughter's and young son. TazirVile decided to head outside, he went to the closet that was in his bedroom chamber in his ship, took out his black, wool overcoat, slid that over his slate gray tuxedo jacket that had a split tail in the back that went down almost to his knees then left his bedroom chamber. He popped the buttons into their places then pulled the belt in tight around his waist just before exiting his ship, it was cold out and he knew it and he knew that, if Cyla and the other women had been in the camp they would have popped a tit after seeing him exit from his ship with nothing on his head or a thicker coat on because they thought he was a weak man. In realty, he could take temperatures under what they were now without having a shirt, vest and tuxedo jacket on. He had conquered all around, cold weather climate planets before with wearing just a pair of pants, shoes and socks, as TazirVile walked across camp to his grandfather's ship where it looked as if most of the men were milling around at he thought of how his father and Cyla and Kuruk and Irka had really turned on the degrading remarks on him after Angel and the boys had disappeared. His grandfather and sisters didn't degrade him, his stepfather and mother didn't degrade him nor did their children, he didn't know if Trobrencus and his family talked bad of him or not and really, he didn't care. In his acquiring of his Elemental powers and then in discovering and having Angel as his Universal Wife, he had gotten a confidence that he had not had before. Sure, he had been confident before, but with everyone talking him down, degrading and insulting him it had really brought his self-esteem and confidence down to a low point. He had gone to the Universal Gods three times in his life, one time after nearly taking his sword and plunging it into himself because of his family and their insults, they had helped him tremendously and he believed that they were still helping him. TazirVile looked up at the sky, his goggled glasses kept his sun sensitive eyes safe from the rays of the chilled sun that looked like a hazy, light yellow ball up in the sky. As he looked up at the sky he thanked the Universal Gods for all that they had done for him and for all that he had yet to have happen in his life, good and bad, as without both, he would not be the man he was now or be as successful in both his conquering, in being a husband or in being a father. After his thanking, TazirVile went and joined the men that were milling around his grandfather's ship.

"Ewww! Gross! The last thing I wanted to see was your naked ass!" Hazaar exclaimed after he had teleported in.

"Hazaar! What are you doing here?" Lhaklar demanded to know, he had finished his soak in the hot spring and had just gotten out of the water when his younger brother teleported in.

He had spent all of an hour just sitting in the naturally wamred up water of the hot spring and had figured, after seeing the state of the bandaging on his arm which was pretty bad and after seeing his hands looking all shriveled up like prunes that he should get out, get dressed and begin the journey home. He had smoked two cigarettes, a rarity for him, he had hummed for about twenty minutes of his hour-long stay at the hot spring and then he had gone quiet. The naturally warmed up water had done its trick in helping his sore body when he had been in it but once he was out, the pains started up again. If his brother had not appeared in the area he would have let the pain defeat him then he would have just leaped back in, but, since his younger brother had just so happened to of appeared without warning he had to swallow his pains, walk over to his clothes, dress himself then head back home. As if his younger brother appearing without warning and the soreness in his body wasn't bad enough, the chilly wind swept across his body and made him shiver and that made his pains feel worse.

"You need to come home now!" Hazaar said frantically. "Momma called, she asked to talk to you and..."

"You didn't!"

"Lazeer was on the phone, he was stuttering and stammering and then it just popped out." Hazaar said. "Mom is livid! She's coming home now and will be home in fifteen minutes."

"Shit! Shit shit shit!" Lhaklar exclaimed, he forced himself to forget his pains and reached down, he grabbed his shirt up and put that on then he grabbed his underwear and was just sliding them on when his younger brother began to laugh.

"You are so gullible!" Hazaar screamed. "Momma called, we said that you was sleeping."

"You wet end!" Lhaklar lunged forward, grabbed his younger brother then gave him a noogie.

"Mine's dry, you are the one with the wet butt." Hazaar shoved his older brother off of him.

Hazaar limped a ways off then stopped and turned around, he threw his head back, shook it then looked forward. Lhaklar scowled at his younger brother for fooling him, he had been near to having a heart attack when he had told him that their mother was on her way home and that she was pissed that he had left not only the apartment but the safety of the shield. Lhaklar scowled at his younger brother then reached down, he fought hard to not yell out in pain as his movement hurt him so bad and, since he had to use both of his arms to pull his pants up he was dealt double the pain since his arm was now, basically, fully exposed to the air. Lhaklar pulled his pants up, buttoned then zipped them up then he grabbed his socks and shoes. These he put on slower, he allowed for himself to fall back to the ground, even his falling back on his rump hurt and he nearly yelled out in agony. He pulled his socks on slowly then he struggled to put his shoes on, Hazaar just stood in front of him, he looked as if he was enjoying the sight of seeing him struggle with his pains. With his shoes on, tied up nicely and himself fully clothed, Lhaklar took several deep breaths then, in one quick and very painful movement, got to his feet. He reached back to see if his wallet was where it was suppose to be, felt that it was still in his back pants pocket then he walked forward for his cigarette case. Hazaar limped forward and grabbed his cigarette case right after he had taken the fourth, painful step.

"Give me my cigarette case, Hazaar." Lhaklar said sternly.

"Say that I'm the best little brother you have and will ever have and I might just give you it." Hazaar said, he then clicked the cigarette case open, took out one of the cigarettes, lit it then began smoking it. "Sans one cigarette, that is."

"Hazaar, that cost me eighty-six dollars. That is my property, give it over." Lhaklar walked forward, he ignored the pain as he did so. Hazaar stepped out of his way.

"Say it." Hazaar snapped the cigarette case shut, he continued to smoke his cigarette. "Say that I am the most best little brother that..."

"Give me my damn cigarette case!" Lhaklar lunged forward, he managed to grab his younger brother by his arm but, before he could grab his cigarette case, Hazaar tossed it to his other hand. "Hazaar, I'm serious. Give me my case. I'd like to go home and rest."

"I'll give it to you if you say what I want you to say." Hazaar said, the cigarette in his mouth went up then down as he spoke.

"I'll never say it. You're the worst little brother a man could have!" Lhaklar reached over for his cigarette case, Hazaar swung his hand and struck his brother on his burnt arm.

"Dammit, Hazaar!" Lhaklar had turned around fully, he had his left arm up against his chest. It was throbbing like mad and the pain was just pulsating up his arm, down his shoulder then down his left side like crazy. "You really are the worst brother in the universe! That hurt, look at my arm!"

"Sorry, I forgot." Hazaar said, he handed Lhaklar his cigarette case then stepped back, Lhaklar had snatched his cigarette case away then had turned and had begun to walk away. "Lhaklar, I'm sorry."

"Whatever."

Homsi stared out in shock, he and his co-workers had just reached the hot spring after taking a long walk around the area surrounding it and had come out nearly in clear view of the two that were standing, and who were now walking around, the hot spring. His mother had always told him that the cold air on planets that experienced both cold and warm seasons did one wonders and he did believe her very much, the walk had given him some clean, clear air to breathe, his lungs had always been in good shape but, at the moment, they felt as if they were in better shape. He wasn't sure, but he thought Eldass and Zshon felt the same way, Eldass had sure gotten a kick in his step and Zshon was walking around acting as if he was in his young, early thousands. He and his co-workers had showed up just after the one kid, who they had heard Lhaklar call Hazaar four times and who they all knew now was the secondborn son of their master, had picked up something shiny from the ground that had Lhaklar all up in a frazzle about. Eldass had his cellular out, Homsi was worried that the noise from it being used would alarm the two that they were watching but, after he noticed that his co-worker had set his cellular on vibrate instead of ring he let that worry dissipate. Homs looked over Eldass' shoulder to see what he was doing and he automatically saw that his co-worker was typing out a text to their master about what they were seeing.

"Lahklar and HAZAAR sighted at hot spring, a mile and a half from camp. Lhaklar looks injured, HAZAAR is limping. Waiting on instructions on what to do."

Zshon looked out at the two that were his employer's sons, he made some quick observations on them and quickly came up with that they were both very badly injured and that both were in pain. Lhaklar, especially, was holding his arm up against his chest and, from his distance, his arm was bandaged up but, due to the bandaging looking wet, it was coming undone in several places so he could see that his employer's firstborn son's arm was discolored in areas. The one that Lhaklar had confirmed unknowingly to them as their employer's secondborn son, HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, was walking around with a limp that was very noticable and he looked as if he was grimacing with each step. Zshon felt for the two, he had gotten plenty of bad injuries in his life which had made him feel so sore that he could barely lift his body, much less his head. His father had had to carry him after he had been ran over by a rogue bull when he had been in his early three thousands. He had been on a hunt, his fourth one, with his father who had taught him the basics six months before going out on his first hunt. What was appropriate prey to hunt, what to look for in a sick animal, how to size up and weigh an animal on sight and how to stalk in all sorts of terrain. He had made the mistake of not crouching low enough in low grassland when he had been hunting bull Oblox, a type of antelope animal that had twin antlers on their heads and long, shaggy coats, one of the Oblox bulls had seen him and had charged and he had ended up being trampled. It had taken all of a month before he could get up and walk without feeling any pain, in that month his parents had helped him greatly in not only bringing him up his meals, bringing him reading material and things to keep him happy and busy, but also his father had picked him up and had carried him downstairs, to the bathroom, to the kitchen and, also, he had taken him outside for some fresh air as well. A slight buzzing sound made Zshon turn towards his father, his father had just gotten a message reply from their master. Zshon looked back to Lhaklar and Hazaar then sighed in relief, his heart had skipped a beat when the slight buzz had sounded and heh ad thought that the two sons of his employer had heard it but, luckily, they were still milling about the hot spring.

"Lhaklar, I'm really, really sorry." Hazaar said again, his brother was walking about in circles and he was following him. "I didn't mean it... I forgot..."

"Your forgetting is going to hurt you one day!" Lhaklar said sharply. "Get away from me."

"Brother, if it'll make you feel any better give me a kick in the leg. Do that kharma thing on me, I hurt you, you hurt me." Hazaar started to plead, he reached up and gently touched his brother's shoulder. "Lhaklar..."

It was tempting, he was in extreme pain but he could very well kick his leg up and give his little brother a good foot in the leg right where he had been injured in the fight by their uncle. Hazaar still had the cigarette that he had taken from his cigarette case, it was held between the index and middle fingers of his right hand and was burning out because he wasn't smoking it, he had taken just two puffs from it then he had started chasing after him. Lhaklar felt angry over that as well, he didn't like for anyone to be looking through his things or to be taking from him without asking first, Lhaklar made one more circle around the area then stopped and turned. Hazaar stood before him, he stood looking ready to accept the pain of having his injured leg kicked and in experiencing a little payback pain. Lhaklar sighed, he shook his head dropped down to the ground. Just sitting down had hurt him, he groaned then went silent. Hazaar looked down at him for a few seconds then sat down beside him. He held his cigarette out for him to take, Lhaklar shook his head.

"Smoke it, it's yours." Lhaklar said. "Have three more and there are several packs in my stash so you're fine. Just ask next time will ya."

"Sure, thanks." Hazaar said, he then smoked the Black Devils cigarette once, he blew the smoke out then took another puff. "I ever tell you that you have good tastes in cigarettes? This has a very rich, sweet flavor to it."

"Indonesian tobacco, better than Winston and Basics." Lhaklar replied.

"You ever try Newport?" Hazaar asked.

"No,"

"Good, stay away from it. One of the nastiest tasting cigarette I've ever smoked." Hazaar said. "Near turned my mouth inside out on one smoke."

"Didn't know you had smoked other brands." Lhaklar said.

"Smoked four, yours is the best." Hazaar said.

"How was you able to get the smokes?" Lhaklar asked, he was curious.

"I don't just take the allowance momma gives me and use it on candy, I have a guy that goes in and buys me a pack of whatever he says it good each week." Hazaar said. "I also buy magazines."  
"Magazines? What kind?" Lhaklar asked, now fully interested.

Homsi looked out at the now sitting first and second born sons of his employer, Hazaar had reached down and had untucked his brown shirt, it looked as if he was taking out a magazine that he had hid inside his shirt. The secondborn son of his employer, HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, was wearing a brown, short sleeve, shirt and brown pants, on his feet were brown shoes, to Homsi, it looked as if Hazaar hadn't been able to keep up with himself lately because the deep purple tail of hair that came out from the nape of the back of his head looked unkept. Master Tazir had told them to hold their position, he was teleporting up near the north of the hot spring and was bringing a few others with him to assist in the capture of his two sons. He hadn't asked if they were sure of who the one youngster was, he had just messaged back saying that he was on his way and would have others with him to assist in the capture. Homsi had a small pair of binoculars with him, a fold-in type that was light gray in color, he took his binoculars out from the inside pocket of his brown tuxedo, snapped the top up then looked through the glasses. He saw that Hazaar had a cigarette in his hand, that made for three of his employer's four sons being smokers and, seeing Hazaar smoking, not only frustrated him but worried him as well as the youngsters lungs, like his two older brothers', were not yet fully developed to handle the inhalation of smoke. Homsi then saw the magazine that Hazaar had taken out from his shirt, it had a red cover that had a girl that had a towel held on her front side only, the title on the cover said Playboy. Homsi lowered his binoculars, he blinked his eyes then shook his head, he then put his binoculars away. In his younger years, before he had married, he had read such filth so it wasn't much of a surprise to him that two of his employer's four sons read and looked at magazines with either half naked or fully naked women in it. Eldass tapped him on his shoulder then pointed out to the north.

"Master Tazir is in position." Eldass said.

"Do you see anyone else?" Homsi asked.

"Uuuuhhh..."

"Trob and Kuruk," Zshon said. "think I see Triskull and Cheshire with him as well."

"Coming at them from eight sides," Eldass said. "think they can teleport?"

Lhaklar felt the air had changed in the area, it got stale, heavy as if there was something about to happen. He slowly stood up, tapped his little brother on the shoulder then he walked off some. Hazaar stood up quickly and placed his magazine, that they both had been looking at and that had gotten them both somewhat excited, back in his shirt. The magazine that they had been looking at was one of the oldest pornographic magazines on the planet, Hugh Hefner had started the magazine October 1, 1953, he had run the magazine up to his nineties then, after he had passed away, his youngest son, Cooper Hefner, had taken over the magazine and it was still run by the Hefner family to that day. Hazaar had just tucked his shirt back in when Lhaklar stood still and tried to teleport, he disappeared for only a second then reappeared. Teleportation, they had been taught at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, worked only when the physical body was in full health and, with Lhaklar being as badly injured as he was he couldn't teleport. Hazaar limped heavily forward, placed his hand on his brothers arm and tried to teleport. He and his brother slowly dissipated, they stayed invisible for only four seconds then reappeared where they had been standing before at the hot spring. Lhaklar turned quickly on his brother and shoved him hard.

"You idiot! You used up the only time you could teleport on just play!" Lhaklar exclaimed angrily.

"I came here to give you another face to look at other than your own." Hazaar said, he struggled to get up then, when he had gotten back onto his feet he rushed forward and pushed Lhaklar. His older brother fell back, his head just barely missed the rocky edge of the hot spring. "I was bored, nothing to do around the apartment so I decided to come here and see if you and I could hang out. Bile went upstairs to his and your room and L-..."

"You was bored and decided to come here and bust my loins." Lhaklar said. "Thanks for the shove, I'll be a few minutes in getting up so that'll give you a few minute head start in running to get away from me."

"Why the hell would I want to run away from you? One of them girls you hang out with give you a bad case of STDs that can be passed onto..."

"Dude I have contracted no sexually transmitted diseases and am not contagious." Lhaklar said, it took him nearly a full minute to get to his feet. When he was on his feet he lunged for Hazaar, grabbed him then gave him another noogie. "You do, though."

"Man lemme go!" Hazaar wrestled free of his brother, took two steps away from him then turned around. "You're pathetic sometimes, you know that?"

"So is your face."

"The babes dig my face, they run at yours."

"Really, why do I have them flocking to my corner on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday?" Lhaklar lowered his left eyelid in a wink.

"Thanks for the admittance of what you really do at your job." Hazaar said. "Man whore."

"Shut up." Lhaklar said, but he was laughing.

"Never, I don't shut up. I grow up then when I look at you, I throw up." Hazaar said.

"And then Bile comes around the corner and licks it up." Lhaklar burst out laughing.

Homsi saw his employer walked out from his hiding place first, Kuruk, Trobrencus and Cheshire came out after he did and then he, Eldass and Zshon made themselves known. Triskull was the last to make himself known, Homsi saw that he was carrying a net gun on his person along with a restraining tool. Lhaklar and Hazaar, having gone sober after seeing the eight men, looked at each other then struck out a fighting stance. Lhaklar used the remainder of his transformationary powers soon after he saw his father walk towards him and his little brother. He become engulfed in a green glow, an energized breeze made Hazaar take two steps away from him, after a full ten seconds he had formed into an immature, mint-green Lion. He had a sparse mane that was pine-green in color, and each the claws that came out from his toes was also a pine-green color. Hazaar directed a green energy sphere at Homsi, who ducked to avoid the hit, then he sent out a weak lightning bolt which struck at Eldass' feet. He had just made the ground roll underneath Eldass and Homsi, making the two Goblins fall flat on their faces, when he felt something prick him on the neck.

"Hazaar!" Lhaklar exclaimed when his brother took one, stiff and awkward step to the side.

Although his vision had started to get blurry, Hazaar threw out five green energy spheres then he swung his fist down, the ground erupted around him, pebbles and medium-sized rocks rose up into the air then fell on the ones that were near, Homsi heard a ringing sound coming out from his right ear after a medium-sized rock struck him on that ear while a medium-sized rock and a slew of pebbles fell on Zshon's head and shoulders, Zshon made the mistake in looking up and a good-sized rock slammed down on his eye, he yelled out in pain then grabbed at his face, some dirt and dust had also fallen in his eye and that was burning him more than the rock that had punched him. Hazaar sent out a weak, red lightning bolt at KurukVile then he lost his footing and fell hard to the ground, he bounced once then lifted his head up, he had fought so hard the sudden wave of fatigue that had fallen over him, he had no idea why he had grown so fatigue, all he knew was that after he had been pricked in the neck by something he had felt the waves of fatigue rush over him. He had struggled to throw out any attacks and he was now struggling to keep himself away.

Lhaklar moved over on top of his little brother and roared, he dared for the ones around him that were threatening him and his little brother to come closer and it seemed that one had decided to take that dare. His father walked forward, drew his arm back then threw a punch, a glob of green acid landed on Lhaklar's shoulder, burned there for all of a second then exploded. Lhaklar was met with not only the pain from before, but the pain from the new injury then he saw his father getting ready to repeat his previous action. Lhaklar gathered himself then leaped forward. He barely missed the next green acid glob that his father had punched out, when he was within two feet of his father he rose up on his hind legs and swiped out his front legs, he opened his father's arm right at the elbow with his splayed out, pine-green claws then he leaped in and bit him at the wrist. He only let his father go when he saw KurukVile lunge in to grab his little brother, who was lying behind him and looked to of been knocked out cold. He released his father's wrist, turned around then ran at the man who dared to make off with his little brother. He used quite a lot of his strength to run, he ran through the pain of his injuries, his right shoulder was burned now and it was also bleeding in two areas. When he was within three feet of his uncle he made his muscles bunch up, he gathered himself then he leaped up and then onto his uncle's back. Once on his uncle's back he began to tear into him with both his claws and his teeth until his uncle, with one, clear upthrust of his body, threw him off.

"Dad!" Triskull yelled.

Lhaklar turned on the man that had ran forward, the man had very dark blue skin, so dark it looked black, and was tall, about six-foot, two and a half inches in height. He had a lean body that a good amount of muscle on the chest, arms and legs. His eyes were a glowing golden-yellow and, to Lhaklar, they looked both inexperienced and they didn't seem to have much intelligence in them. He had a triangular-shaped head that had elongated ears that went the length of his shoulder that had dingy white skulls on the ends, there were sharp, white teeth in his mouth and he had two horns on his head that were gray in color, his horns swept back over his head gracefully. Although the man was wearing a blue jean jacket that had spikes on the shoulders and on the wrists, there was a collar around his neck from which a chain ran down from to his belt which was dark blue in color. There was a pair of wings on the man's back, the webbing was red in color and there were rips and tears all over the webbing so, either the wings were just an adornment of his outfit or, if the man had been born with them, had been so busted and torn up that he no longer could use them and were now just for increasing his physical appearance. The man wore a pair of dark blue pants that were ripped in several places and he had spiked wrist and ankle guards on his ankles and wrists. The man had a gun with him, it had a triangular-shaped muzzle and was big in the back and, Lhaklar saw, he also had a tool that had a loop on the end. Lhaklar leaped into the air, his front legs were held out, ready to grab and rip the man a few more scars, he had a scar over his left eye, a scar across his neck and scars crisscrossing over his chest so he looked like he had seen quite a lot in his years. Just as he landed on the man he felt something prick him in the neck, he looked down at the man and the man looked up at him for a second before he got off.

"Let him be now, let the sleeper dart take a-hold of him before you head in." he heard his father say.

He stumbled around for two, complete circles then he dropped to his side, got up then dropped back to his side again. He saw the zombie-man, TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit was his name, take one step forward then stop and cross his arms. Lhaklar struggled to his feet, he had lost his lion-form and was now in his true form, he walked over to his brother then his legs collapsed on him. He fell at his younger brothers side, wrapped his arm around him then felt his eyelids slide down. He went into a troubled sleep just as his father gave the word for Homsi, Eldass and Zshon to walk forward, Cheshire walked over to TazirVile's side while Triskull got up from the ground and went to his father. KurukVile nodded his head, said he was fine then looked over at the three Goblins who had rolled Lhaklar over to his back. KurukVile was about to walk forward to get a good look at the youth that Lhaklar had fallen beside when his brother walked over, knelt down then rolled the youth that had the deep purple tail of hair that came out from the nape of the back of the youngsters head over to his back.

"Eshal will be thrilled when she comes back from her shopping trip," his brother said excitedly. "alright boys. Lets get my sons to the ship. Put 'em in a room, make sure it's locked. I want two of my staff to guard the door to ensure that my boys don't get out and escape."

"Who is that one, Tazir?" KurukVile asked. "Is he Hazaar or..."

"He is most definately Hazaar, didn't you hear Lhaklar call him that?" TazirVile looked at his older brother, the corners of his O-shaped mouth were so curled up in an excited smile that he looked almost hideous to look at.

"No, the wind was making a racket where I was so I couldn't hear him calling Hazaar by his name." KurukVile replied, he looked back when his son began fussing over him. "Triskull, tone it down back there. Flesh wounds, they're not deep. Nothing to worry over."

"You sure, Father?" Triskull asked, he was concerned. Although his father's long, brown leather coat that had a brown fur ring around the neck, shoulders and down the front near the buttons and a brooch had taken most of Lhaklar's lion-formed clawed attack, there were three, deep scratches on his back.

"Perfectly sure, these two should be treated for whatever injuries they have." KurukVile knelt down and began looking at Lhaklar's left arm. He peeled two of the bandage wraps back, grimaced then stood up. "Especially this one. The younger one... Hazaar, excuse me, had a limp on him so I'd get him treated as well."

"When they wake up, I'll have that done." TazirVile said, he nodded to Homsi, Eldass and Zshon then backed off. "That way they'll see I mean them no harm and will calm down some towards me."


	21. Chapter 21

"Has he woken up?" Irka asked as soon as she had teleported in, she tossed her bags on the bed that she and her husband slept in and did their activities in then turned to her husband quickly.

"I have no idea, Irka." KurukVile replied, he then began counting the bags that his wife had come back with. "I am not asking how much you spent of what I gave you! Six bags... you bought out a full store!"

"Silly Kuru," Irka walked up to her husband, reached up and rubbed his chest fondly. "you gave me three hundred dollars, I came back with fifty left over."

"You keep that, whatever I give you, you don't ever bother giving back." KurukVile said, although he was trying to be serious he was also fighting the urge to grimace. He had been called Kuru-Boo by his mother when he had been very much younger than he was now and she still called him that to that day, his wife was now using his childhood name as a petname. "Not a red cent, hear me now?"

"Kuruk, I know. You like spoiling me, same as the children when they are behaved, that is." Irka said. "Kaasa had a blast, she and Uevaa went off on their own..."

"They did what?" KurukVile asked, suddenly alarmed.

KurukVile had just seated himself in a black, leather chair when his wife had told him that she had allowed for his younger sister and young daughter to go off alone, the room he was in was spacious and he was damn proud of that. The bed, seated off with the black headboard against the wall, had black and gray checkered sheets, a light gray quilt was folded on the end of the bed. At the head of the bed that he and his wife slept in at night and where they had their romps in from time to time whenever they got antsy was a multitude of pillows that had white tasseled black and gray checkered pillow cases that had either a KS, his initials, or an IS, his lovely wife's initials. There was a black couch with puffy cushions of dark red sat over on one side of the room, above it was a portrait of him and his wife, a chair that matched the couch on the wall beside the couch with a black glass table with curved legs between them and there was a pet bed on the other side of the chair that two, dark brown furred animals that had cream-colored fur on the under parts of their necks and stomachs that had either black or dark brown eyes and long snouts that had protruding yellow teeth jutting down from inside the mouth, were resting on. There was a black carpet with red rose designs all around the edge and a spider web in the center right next to the side of the bed, there was a matching carpet on the other side of the bed. The carpet was very finely made, the material that was extremely soft. There were black candles on the dark red wood dresser that had animal skulls on the ends of the surface and red candles on a shelf, a large stuffed bear was in one corner and another rug was in the room. It was a Lion rug, the head still attached with its mouth open and teeth glistening white. He had hunted and killed these two animals and he had also harvested the skulls from other hunts that he had gone on. KurukVile stood up sharply, then got control of himself and sat back down.

"Careful with that, Irka. You know I'm rather protective of our young ones." KurukVile said, Irka had walked off to deal with her purchases. "There are men who wait in the shadow for young, defenseless girls. Don't want one of my own to be snatched away from me."

"Me either, honey. They and I were in constant contact. I knew where they were and what they were doing." Irka said. "Was it just Lhaklar who was captured? Your text message was a bit jumbled at the end, couldn't understand the last part of your message."

"I was damn excited and couldn't keep my hand steady," KurukVile gave an explanation as to why his text was slightly jumbled. "no, wasn't just Lhaklar. Hazaar was also captured."

"Hah-Hazaar?" Irka dropped a black dress that she had bought and turned around. "Hazaar was captured as well?"

"Hazaar was also captured, both are injured which hindered their escaping from us." KurukVile replied. "Looks like he had a leg injury, limped around a lot. Lhaklar's arm is pretty burned up."

"You sure that..."

"Lhaklar used his name, he's Hazaar alright." KurukVile said.

"I bet Tazzy is thrilled at knowing he has not one but two sons still alive." Irka said, she then sighed. "How was he in body weight? Angel took off with him at a hundred years of age, still a baby. Is he stunted or..."

"Far as I could see, looked perfectly formed." KurukVile replied. "Just his leg that needs mending, is all."

"Bile?"

"No, not in the area. Neither was that other fellow that Tazir saw on Zeta Ren or Angel." KurukVile replied. "Just them two."

Irka kept her mouth shut on her thoughts, she was really worried about Hazaar and his development, she was worried about all of her brother-in-law's children and Bile but, after finding out that Hazaar had been captured and positively identified she was targeting her worry on him at the moment. Angel, she thought, had really taken a risk in taking her sons with her one thousand, six hundred years ago. The two older boys had been young but they would have faired better than the two infants, who had been rather fragile, her granddaughter had really risked their lives and, Irka firmly believed, had most probably lost one of them by her disappearing with the boys. Not to mention, she was thinking, Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar were probably way behind schedule in their educations, Irka didn't have much confidence in Angel having her sons educated in the correct way. Irka quickly put away her purchases, bunched the bags up then tossed them into the incinerating trash basket that was on the other side of the bed. She had thought that her husband's text message was nothing but drunk pressing, a joke. She really wanted to see Hazaar and Lhaklar and see if they were on schedule in their developments. Irka turned around and went for the door, her husband beat her to it and barred her from exiting their bedroom chamber.

"Irka, no. Tazir has given orders for everyone to wait until he gives word that we can come and see the boys." KurukVile had noticed the hurried movements of his wife and knew of her concern for the two boys that had been captured. He was worried as well but, as of that moment in time, neither could do anything but sit and wait.

"Can you contact him and ask?" Irka asked. "Kaasa teleported in just as I did, think Uevaa did as well."

"Probably everyone who was out has come back," KurukVile bent down and kissed his wife on the cheek. "Tazir has everything under control..." KurukVile then walked over to the bed where he sat down. He then sighed and added, "or at least, I hope he does. He has no experience with sons, boys are much more complex and sneaky than girls."

Cyla was forcing herself to not get up from the couch that was in her husband's ship, she and her daughter had teleported in the camp just as Irka and Kaasa had appeared in KurukVile's ship and both were both nervous, although the mature woman's concern was for a different reason. She and her daughter had shopped well, DuruVile had given them each three hundred dollars to spend on just themselves and they had used all but ten of that, after they had teleported in they had taken care of their purchases then had gone to the living room to sit and wait. Cyla's husband was notably nervous as well, he had seated himself in the dark gray velor chair for only five minutes, he had struggled to not twitch or move around then he had stood up and left the room saying that he had heard something in one of the rooms and wanted to check it out. Cyla and Uevaa were both seated on a slate gray velor couch that had a gray wolf pelt on the back cushions, both were still but it was evidence of their nervousness was clear in their eyes. Cyla, looking for something to do just to pass time away, looked around the room.

Besides the slate gray couch, the only couch in her husband's ship's living room, that had the gray wolf pelt on the back cushions and the dark gray velor chair that her husband had seated himself in for only five minutes, there was a glass coffee table in front of the couch and chair. The room was lit up by three oil lamps which were hanging on the wall that were dark red. Up on the wall was a photograph, it was of her and Duru on their wedding day, a day that had made her feel so happy to have the love of her life back in her life, she had fully disregarded Angel nearly destroying the wedding and had somewhat forgiven her. There was a phone placed inside the couch, it was black and leather, the light from the oil lamps shone on it. To the side of the room was a solid wood table that held an old, petrified turntable. The carpet in the living room of his ship was dark blue while the walls were brown, the ceiling above was coated in silver dust. Cyla, thinking that maybe some music would help matters some, stood up and went to the turntable. She put in her and her husbands favorite, LOK, a classical, melodic band. Just as LOK started to play, her husband with Gaajah and Selik following behind him walked into the room.

"Good idea, Cylie." DuruVile said as he sat back his chair. "Lightens the mood and also gives us something else to think of."

"What did he look like?" UevaaVile asked, she was curious about Hazaar who was two hundred and eighty-five years younger than she. "Dad, wh-..."

"Uevaa, down girl. Tazir grabbed the ones nearest him and went off to capture the boys. He gave not a look in my direction when the message had been sent about them being in the area." DuruVile said. "I have not a clue as to his appearance and you'll stick by our sides when it comes time to see him. Hear me?"

"Yes daddy." UevaaVile replied.

"You can be curious all you want, just you don't get any crushes on him." DuruVile said. "You're much too young and Hazaar is your nephew. He's a member of your family, I won't have anymore of this Family Mate shit happening and it definitely won't be happening with one of my kids."

"You really need to knock some sense into Tazir, Duru." Cyla sighed. "been very disrespectful."

"He needs a good belt in the back and one of my boots kicking him high up in the ass." DuruVile said.

"How old is Hazaar, daddy?" SelikVile asked his father. "Is he older than me or younger?"

"Older, ninety-one years older to be exact." DuruVile replied. "You was just nine years old when his mother ran off with him and his brothers."

Cyla stood up, as she walked by her husband she tapped him on the shoulder to get him to follow then she went to the kitchen. She entered the kitchen a few seconds later, turned around and saw that her husband was just entering behind her. The kitchen in her husbands ship was small but comfortable but, she did prefer the kitchen back home more though. It was bigger, decorated better and she could actually breathe out a little. Although the kitchen in her husbands ship was small, it was stocked very well so that she and her family were very well fed. There was a small silver aluminum refrigerator next to nickle painted cabinets that had black marble surfaces, a stove which had two venison burners and two normal ones and a microwave and blender, the coffee pot sat off by its lonesome behind him. A round table with five chairs around it completed the room, they all made a point to be in the kitchen when it came time to eat, it was the same way at home unless one was ill or injured and couldn't come down to join the family at the supper table. Cyla leaned back against the nickle painted cabinets that had the black marble surface and sighed, what she had to say couldn't be said in front of the children that had been left in the living room.

"Who all went with Tazir when he captured Lhaklar and Hazaar?" she asked her husband

"Trobrencus, Kuruk, Triskull and Cheshire," her husband replied. "there were three Goblins there as well who helped out."

"You really need to get on Tazir about Cheshire, I'm serious now, Duru." Cyla said. "Cheshire is a step parent, not a full parent. I can see Ashaklar being called Lhaklar and Hazaar's grandmother, she is as is I, but Cheshire has no relation to them and shouldn't be called or given any titles."

"Cheshire is nothing but a dupe, I'll have him sent back to Zeta Ren along with his sons and daughters soon. Getting sick of the man anyways." DuruVile replied. "He goes around thinking he's better than everyone. Oh I had three sons back-to-back then two daughters with a son following. I'm a big, successful farmer and miner. It sickens me!"

"How long have Hazaar and Lhaklar been in camp?" Cyla asked.

"Little more than thirty minutes," DuruVile replied. "have no idea what happened, the Goblins carried 'em in and they looked to be asleep."

"You need to contact Tazzy and now," Cyla said, concern was thick in her voice. "them boys need physicals done on them, they need to be questioned then they need to know who their family is." Cyla then sighed and looked down. "Not to mention, he has not a clue on how to raise sons. We have tons of experience, he has none."

"I'll get in contact now." DuruVile said, he left the kitchen.

Losal and Abevo both stood their guards in front of the door that their employer's two sons had been placed in, their ears were finely tuned in so that, when one or both of the boys in the room woke up they could give the signal to one of the Goblins who were walking through the hallway. Although everyone of their co-workers were working, they were also purposely walking through the hallway that the room where Lhaklar and Hazaar had been thrown in. Everyone was curious, all everyone had seen of hte two boys was a quick glance as Homsi, Eldass and Zshon had brought them in so fast. Losal, who had seen the two a bit more than everyone else, was a bit worried about Lhaklar as Zshon had seemed to of had no problem at all in carrying him while Homsi and Eldass had encountered some problems in keeping Hazaar up. Lhaklar looked thin, to Losal that was, he looked athletic in build but he also looked a bit too thin for his liking. Hazaar, as they had all discovered was his name, looked a bit short for his size and that also concerned Losal but his body type looked lean and strong so, either his height was questionable or he was still growing. Lhaklar and Hazaar had been placed on the bed in the room, had had their temperatures taken then had been left alone. The door had been locked but, to ensure that the two boys wouldn't escape he and Abevo had been given the order to guard the door. Can do, he had no intention of leaving the door for anything and that included bathroom breaks. Homsi had said that he had given the antidote that would reverse the effects of the Sleeper Darts that had been thrown at Lhaklar and Hazaar, the darts had a maximum, one hour life and twenty-six minutes had already passed since the antidote had been administered, typically the antidote would wake one who had been given the Sleeper Dart in ten minutes, by hearing no sounds going on in the room he was concerned that the antidote had had a bad effect or worse, it hadn't worked on the two sons of his employer.

"You hear anything on your end?" Losal asked Abevo, who had turned and had placed his ear to the door.

"Quiet, don't hear anything and that includes footsteps." Abevo replied.

"Should one of us go in and check on them?" Losal asked. "Or do you think Master Tazir would just want his sons to be left be?"

"How long has it been since they were brought in?" Abevo asked.

"Thirty minutes, antidote was given twenty-six minutes ago." Losal replied.

"I'd-..."

"Master Tazir wants to know if either of you two have heard anything going on in the room yet?" Homsi asked as he walked up.

"Not a peep, quiet as can be in there." Abevo replied.

"They should be awake by now." Losal said, concern was very evident in his voice.

"They should, but I gave them a small dosage of the antidote so it might take a few more minutes before they do wake up." Homsi said. "Only gave them a CC each."

"That makes me feel better then." Losal sighed in relief.

"As soon as you hear something, contact me. That rank, Duru, called up our master. He's causing trouble already so keep on your toes." Homsi said, he then walked off down the hallway.

Although he was relieved to know that, due to the small dosage of the antidote that would reverse the effects of the Sleeper Darts, Hazaar and Lhaklar would be awake soon, Losal was annoyed to hear that his employer's father was already starting his shit. This was a delicate time, he thought, it called for delicate actions and a lot of understand and gentleness not people barging in to voice their opinions or cause trouble. His master had given his father the boot a few weeks before and, although he had let him back in they were still not on good terms and it wasn't just Duru that was causing trouble either, Cyla was also creating trouble. She seemed to think that she knew it all and had been getting on his master quite a lot about his habits, lifestyle and how Eshal was being raised. Cyla had been allowed to move in to help his master in raising Eshal when his daughter was no more than a hundred and fifty years old, she had lived in his mansion and had helped little. She had really used his master for a place to live, as a way to regain her life before her husband had divorced her. His master had done all that he could back then, he had been raising Eshal right and Cyla, the know-it-all, had really tried to undo all of that. An example in that was when Eshal had left her toys lying about in the living room, Cyla had really gotten on the young girl and had nearly made Eshal cry. His master had walked in just before the young child had started to cry and had put an end to getting-on. Losal sighed, his master was a fabulous father, in his eyes. Kind, understanding, gentle, he disciplined when he had to but he was also pretty patient with his kids. Losal had just leaned back on the door frame when he heard a sound come from the room that he was guarding.

"Hazaar?" Lhaklar rolled over and shook his little brother gently. "Hazaar? You okay?"

Things were fuzzy in the room, he couldn't much see anything yet but the fuzzy blob beside him that was dark blue he knew was his younger brother. Lhaklar felt as if he had been hit by a mad truck, everything hurt and he was fighting the urge to yell out as he shook his brother. He had woken up on something soft, he guessed that he and his brother had been placed on a bed. Lhaklar swung his legs over the edge of the bed then he slowly stood up. The second he was on his feet he collapsed then yelled out in a pained rage that both Losal and Abevo, along with several other Goblins that were milling around in the hallway, heard him. He struggled to his feet then made several loops around the room he was in, he was stiff and sore and he felt like he had been broken then reassembled so badly that he was near to breaking again. After he had made his fourth loop around the room his vision cleared and he was able to see the room that he and his little brother had been placed in. The first thing that popped into his head was that he and his little brother had been captured, the second thing that came to his mind was that his and his little brother's captor was either very well off or very rich.

He had woken up on a large, queen sized bed that had light red sheets and a dark red blanket, there were four large-sized pillows on the bed that were encased in cream pillow cases that had a T and a Z stitched into the surface. On either side of the bed was a dark walnut bed side table, the one on the left side of the bed had a lamp on it that was designed to look liek a trophy at the base while the one on the right side of the bed had a dark red, antique looking alarm clock on it. There was a rug underneath the bed that was cream-colored but had blood-red designs on it, the walls were cream-colored, the ceiling was a darker shade of cream, there was a white crystal chandelier that had crystals hanging down from the gold bars hanging down from it. There was a dark red and pink striped bench placed at the foot of the bed, a white couch that had a knitted cover on it was off on one wall while on the other sat two, cherry wood dressers. The bigger of the dressers had a large, 60" screen mounted above it while the shorter dresser had a mirror mounted up on the wall, there was a bowl on this dresser, there was a folded towel next to it. There was a tall, fern-like plant in one of the corners of the room, sitting next to it was a white colored wicker chair that had a red cushion on the seat. It wasn't so much the decoration or design of the room that made him think that his captor was rich, it was that chandelier and the fact that there was a glass Dolphin statue placed near the end of the shorter dresser. There was a walk-in bathroom next to the room that he and his brother was in so he went to it and relieved himself. Just as he walked out he saw that his younger brother was seated up on the bed.

"Hazaar," Lhaklar said softly, he walked forward slowly, stiffly, then sat down beside his brother on the bed. "you okay?"

"I want mom," Hazaar said. "I-I want mommy."

Like Hazaar, even he called their mother, mommy from time to time when things were just not right and he was scared out of his wits. Lhaklar's mind cleared fully after his brother had woken up, he remembered that, after he and his younger brother had looked at the nudie magazine that Hazaar had hidden in his shirt and had tried to, and had been unable to, teleport out of the area, their father had come into the clearing around the hot spring followed by several others, he remembered the small fight for their freedom and that he had injured their father twice and then had injured their uncle as well afterwards then he remembered being pricked by something in the neck. Lhaklar looked around the room once more then stood up, he had a sinking feeling that the one who had them was their father and that, soon, they would be meeting him. With anger in his heart, Lhaklar ran at the door and banged into it so hard that Abevo and Losal, standing guard behind it, jumped back. He ignored his pains and began pounding on the door, hoping to either bust it down or make a hole in it somewhere to reach through, he had a feeling that the door was locked and that was why he had not tried the doorknob. Losal and Abevo turned around to look at the door, when Lhaklar ran at the door again and made it shake on its hinges after colliding with it they ran forward to steady it. TazirVile, with Homsi and Eldass walking behind him, stopped short in the hallway before the one that the room that his sons were on when he heard the sound of a door being pounded on then he quickened his pace.

"Fuck! Mom's going to kill me!" Lhaklar exclaimed. "She's going to find out we was captured, she'll get mad then all hell will break loose!"

"Your fault, had you of not go to the hot spring we'd not be in this situation." Hazaar said.

"You remember your lessons at UT? How to block one from reading your mind and all?"

"Course, why?" Hazaar asked.

"Because, if it is he who has us, our father will probably try to read out thoughts to find where mom, Bile and Lazeer are then he..."

"How do you know it is our father who has us? Might be one of the others who has us."

"Who else would have us? Uncle Kuruk? That Trob-guy?" Lhaklar demanded in an elevated voice.

"Calm yourself, you won't be the only one needing an obituary written on you after mom finds out we've been captured. I'll be joining you in the grave beside yours." Hazaar said. "I just hope it's mom who'll be doing the whipping and lashing and not the one who has us. I'm pretty sore, I can fight but..."

"Hazaar,"

"Yes,"

"Whatever happens just remember the spells, charms and your learnings from the University of Telepathy and," Lhaklar backed away from the door, he had heard voices behind it and the jingle sound of keys. "let's have our father find out on his own about Lazeer. Okay?"

"Sure, and keep your head where it's suppose to be." Hazaar said, he stood up painfully then took two steps from the bed before collapsing. Lhaklar walked over to him to help him up but, in his attempt to help his little brother his legs gave out on him and he fell to his side.

He pushed the conversation he had just had with his father a few minutes ago out of his head as he inserted the key into the keyhole of the door that went to the room that his sons had been placed in, he gave one twist of the key then took it out then gripped the door. He was worried, like everyone else was, but even more so now after one of his sons had ran and banged into the door. Losal had said that, from the sound of things in the room, both of his sons were awake and that one had not only ran at the door but had also pounded on it, this concerned him as he didn't want either of his sons hurt anymore than what they were now. Tazir told Homsi to enter the room with him then opened the door and went in, he closed the door behind him and his most loyal and most trusted Goblin. Losal, Abevo and Eldass took their places as guards of the door but they kept their ears tuned in to what was going on inside the room. The first thing that TazirVile saw was Lhaklar struggling to his feet while the younger boy, Hazaar, was still on the floor on his side. Homsi stood near the door, he had a gravely concerned look on his face but he decided to let his master tke things over. Tazir walked over to the bed, Lhaklar stepped in front of Hazaar quickly.

"Look well rested for only having thirty minutes of sleep, my son." TazirVile said.

"What is the reason for your having us here?" Lhaklar demanded to know.

"Same reason why I came here to this planet," TazirVile replied. "your mother called in to a program that your sister was on and gave a small hint as to where she, you and your brothers were. Came here to bring you home, where you belong."

"You think I'm a fool? You came here with practically an army." Lhaklar said.

"I do not see you as a fool, there's no army here. Only members of your family." TazirVile said, he then looked down at Hazaar. After a few seconds he knelt down. "Hazaar, is it?"

"Yeah, what's it to ya?" Hazaar spat.

"You have grown very well." TazirVile said. "You was only a hundred years old the last time I saw you."

Hazaar looked at the man in front of him, he had never seen an outfit like the one the man was wearing in his life. The man had on a pair of slate gray pants, a slate gray vest that had dark gray ties with a light gray, button down shirt underneath the vest that looked as if it had long sleeves from which had belled cuffs on the ends. The tuxedo's jacket had a tail that went down to his knees and split down the middle. Hazaar pulled himself away from the man then slowly got to his feet, he tottered slightly off balance for a second or two then got control of himself. The man, who was six-foot, one inch tall, two inches taller than he, had light blue skin and who wore a pair of goggled glasses, tried to walk around Lhaklar but his brother prevented him from getting but so close. Before Lhaklar was struck, Hazaar had time to see that the man had large, oval eyes behind his goggled glasses that were a shiny, silver color and that the man had holes were a nose two be and an O-shaped mouth. Hazaar knew who the man was, he was TazirVile Lajoshu Surveit, his own father. Lhaklar moved in front of him again, barring their father from getting close, and that seemed to of hit a nerve with the man because he rose his hand then swung it low. Lhaklar, who had not been spanked in many hundreds of years, was taken off guard with the spank just given to him. Hazaar took two steps to the side in shock, his wounded leg gave out on him and he began to fall. TazirVile rushed in just in time to grab him and keep him on his feet.

"Calm down now," TazirVile said when Hazaar shoved his elbows into his side. "Lhaklar, you need to behave now. I'm not going to hurt neither of you and you both kn-... yey!"

Hazaar had brought his hands together and had swung them, intending to make the man who had spanked his brother back away from him. All he caught was air and then he felt a stinging sensation on his rear after hearing a whacking sound. He, himself, had not been spanked for many hundreds of years and he, as had Lhaklar before him, was taken aback by his father slapping him on the ass. It only lasted a second as, when he felt his father place his hand on his back right where the burn was that his father had caused by his damn acid ball, he snapped. Homsi yelled out in shock as Hazaar turned fully on his father, TazirVile took two punched in the stomach then another in the face before he got control of his son. He gave Hazaar two, well-meaning spanks then released him and backed away. Lhaklar walked forward and placed himself, again, in front of his little brother and the man who had spanked him. TazirVile stared at his two sons, he was still very concerned but he was also frustrated with their actions. While he understood why Hazaar was reacting in the way he was, and while he understood that Lhaklar was only acting in a big brother way in protecting his little brother, he didn't understand why they were both acting so hostilely towards him.

"You two need to behave now, you're both injured and need some care for your injuries." TazirVile said calmly. "I'm not going to hurt neither of you, I'm your father, wouldn't if my life depended on it."

"Sure, I doubt that after you swiped at us." Lhaklar said.

"Surely, my son, your mother had disciplined you and Hazaar plenty of times." TazirVile said.

"Dish toweling, as we call it." Lhaklar replied.

"Mistress Angel disciplines you and your brothers with a dish towel?" Hazaar turned his head to the side, he looked at the brown-skinned Goblin that had large, expressive, blue eyes who had hair growing out from his ears that was wearing a fully brown tuxedo.

"Better than a stick, Homsi." TazirVile said. "Lhaklar, Hazaar. That's Homsi, he's my most trusted and most loyal Goblin. He'll be assisting me when I take you two from this room to the medical chamber for treatment of your injuries."

"And by "most loyal and most trusted" you mean your lover?" Hazaar said, Lhaklar snickered then held his hand up by his head.

"Good one, Little Brother."

"Employee, Hazaar. Not lover." TazirVile said. "Homsi's been working for me for years. For your mother as well."

Hazaar looked at the door was three Goblins walked through after his father had called come in boys. A Goblin that looked rather elderly, that had fluffy, white hair and a lot of wrinkles on his face that had blue skin and light blue eyes and a rather long nose that had large nostrils, who was wearing a light blue tuxedo with a ruffle on the front and light blue shoes stepped next to the Goblin named Homsi while two others, a tall, green-skinned Goblin who had a few warts on his face, a thin, but long, nose and scraggly brown hair on his head that was wearing a purple tuxedo and shoes and a burly, light brown-skinned Goblin that had slick backed, brown hair and green eyes who was wearing a dark blue tuxedo walked over to his and his brother's father's side. Hazaar swung his hand out at Homsi, trying to make a gust of air come out from his hand so he and his brother could escape then he hugged up against Lhaklar, his attempt to send out a gust of air had failed. Either there was a spell in the room that he and his brother were in or he had been drained of his powers and that scared him.

"Lhaklar, Hazaar," TazirVile said after the three Goblins had entered the room. "on my left is Abevo." TazirVile pointed down to the burly Goblin that had slick backed, brown hair and who was wearing a dark blue tuxedo. "And on my right is Losal," TazirVile pointed down at the tall Goblin that was wearing a purple tuxedo. "They mean you no harm either. They're just here to help me out. The Goblin next to Homsi is Eldass. He's one of the longest employed in my staff, he also means you no harm."

"Mom!" Hazaar yelled out, trying to contact his and Lhaklar's mother. "Mommy!"

"Momma!" Lhaklar yelled out, joining in on his brother's attempt to contact their mother. Before long the room was filly with the yells of mom, momma and mommy.

"Boys! That is enough!" TazirVile exclaimed, he brought his hand up to his forehead and rubbed it once before lowering it. "I want a ring made around my sons, don't any of you break it or let them get away. We're headed to the medical chamber where whatever injuries that they have will be healed and where a full physical will be conducted."

Hazaar only put up a minor fight in their escorting of him and his brother from the room they had been put in then he calmed down after his brother told him to be so. Lhaklar walked stiffly down the hallway, there were two Goblins on his left side while, beside Hazaar there were two more while their father followed behind them. On the way to this so-called medical chamber, Hazaar and Lhaklar saw that their father had purple carpeting down the hallways of his ship and that the walls and ceiling were light brown. There were either gold bats pinned up on the wall, their wings splayed out to their utmost length, or silver or naturally colored bats that had been propped up in similar ways. They passed by several male and female Goblins, all who turned to look at them but all who didn't say a word or even make a sound, and they also passed by a woman who looked like their father only she had small, circular eyes and long, jet-black hair. The woman looked at them, said something to their father but didn't keep stop them from moving forward. TazirVile was marvelously impressed by how his two sons behaved on the walk to the medical chamber, he had figured that he had taken care of any transgressions between he and his sons well while in the room and the Goblins all thought this to. When they entered the medical chamber, a room that had a light gray rug and a light brown ceiling with the walls being the same color as the ceiling, they had a minor fight on their hands. Hazaar saw that there was a row of counters running around the room that were white and had gray marble surfaces that had containers of gauze, needles, scissors, bandaging and cotton swabs, there were light brown oak cabinets over the counters and right dead in the center of the room was a table that had a panel connected to it. There were glass sidings folded down from the table which, to Hazaar, looked damn funny. He was the one who started the minor fight, his father had told him to remove his clothing and he had flat out refused. His father gave him four, well-meaning swats on the behind when he continued to not behave, in the end it was Lhaklar who got him to do as their father had told him to.

"Lhaklar," TazirVile placed his hand slowly on his firstborn's shoulder. "I appreciate the help but I have this."

"Should we put the straps on him when he enters to automatic table, sir?" Homsi asked his employer, Hazaar was standing nearby, he had removed everything but his underwear and looked very uncomfortable.

"If he struggles, yes." TazirVile said, he walked forward. Hazaar ducked away from him but didn't get but so far. TazirVile grabbed his arm then picked him up and placed him on the table.

TazirVile yelled over at his firstborn to clamp it after Hazaar had started to flop around in the automatic table after Lhaklar had told his brother to calm down. In one tap of his finger on the panel that was next to the table, TazirVile made four elastic bands wrap around Hazaar to keep him in place then he began the healing procedures. The arms that swept down from the gratings in the glass dome evaluated Hazaar and his injuries first then they swept down and began working. The second the lasers hit Hazaar's leg he began yelling out in pain, Homsi and Eldass grabbed Lhaklar, who had lunged forward while TazirVile tapped a few buttons on the panel. An arm swept out from the grating near his secondborn's neck then jabbed inward to administer the pain reliever. Hazaar was automatically relieved of any pain and went quiet and calm, the two arms that were fixing his leg up worked quickly. It only took two minutes before Hazaar's leg was healed up fully then there was a beeping sound. The screen showed a different injury on Hazaar's back that also needed tending so TazirVile tapped two buttons to make the surface lasers just underneath his secondborn sons back begin working. After a minute had passed, there was a beeping sound then the screen flashed No Further Injuries Detected. TazirVile nodded his head then pressed five buttons, a green light shone over Hazaar's body, swept up, down and around then the domes released and swung down. Hazaar, having just been released from the elastic bands that had kept his body steady, rolled off of the table away from his father then stood up.

"Go get dressed," TazirVile said to Hazaar, he then turned to Lhaklar. "your turn."

TazirVile kept his eye on Hazaar, who was standing off in a corner all by himself, as Lhaklar removed his clothes then got on the automatic table. He was amazed at how calm his firstborn was, he had given no fuss at all in getting undressed or in getting on the table. The glass domes swung shut, latched then TazirVile held his breath. He tapped a few commands on the panel then watched and waited, his finger was ready to press the command buttons for the pain reliever should his firstborn need it. Lhaklar fought the pain as the arms removed the soggy bandage from his arm then began lasering his wounds, he broke out in a sweat just as he felt a prick on his neck then he went calm and quiet. The arms worked quickly and quietly, they swept up, over and under his arm, healing all the burns that he had then they swung up and began working on his shoulder. The light blue lasers burned away the burned areas on his shoulder then worked to replace the flesh before heading over to heal the three puncture areas. When his shoulder was healed, the arms swept up, into the grating then he heard a beeping sound. TazirVile, marvelously proud of how well his firstborn had acted, pressed the commands for the physical exam to begin then he waited. A green light shone over Lhaklar's body then swept up and down then around before the domes released and swung down. Lhaklar rolled off of the table then went and put his clothes on, he had used his slow responses due to the pain he was experiencing to specifically hide his cigarette case and pocket knife under one of the cabinets before getting up, turning then going to get on the automatic table. He felt some stiffness and he did feel some pain still but a majority of what he had felt the past week and three days was gone. Lhaklar went and stood in front of his brother while his father read the read out that came on the screen.

Surfeit, LhaklarVile Closhu

Age: 2,100 years

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 180 lbs

B. Type: Athletic, no body mass fat detected

Brain Activity: Normal, nothing abnormal detected

Lung Health: Normal, nothing abnormal detected

Heart Rate: Normal

Physical Defects Noted: None, table could find none on body

Injury Assessment: Injury to left arm; high-level first and second degree burns, fixed. Injury to right shoulder; two layers of flesh torn off with three puncture marks visible, fixed.

TazirVile pulled up the results for Lhaklar's lung scan and was amazed that there was no damage at all on his lungs, his heart was also fully healthy so he believed that his son had just picked up smoking and that he had yet to do any damage to himself which was a relief to him. He was very surprised at his son's weight, his son was very trim and athletic, there was not an ounce of fat on his body and, for his age, he was very nicely muscled. Tazir had time to see that his firstborn son had a good back that had decently rolling muscle on it, he had seen the firm six-pack and the nicely chiseled chest along with the good muscle in the arms and legs. His son looked strong but, TazirVile did have to admit, he was tall for his age. He, himself, had not reached his full height of six-foot, one inch until he had hit two thousand, four hundred years of age. TazirVile made a copy of the physical then looked at Hazaar's results.

Surfeit, HazaarVile Tlair

Age: 1,700 years

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 175 lbs

B. Type: Lean, no fat detected

Brain Activity: Normal, nothing abnormal detected

Lung Health: Normal, nothing abnormal detected

Heart Rate: Normal

Physical Defects: None, table could find none on body

Injury Assessment: Right leg injury; hole in leg that looked healed previously to only reopen, fixed. Injury to back, high-leve first degree burn, fixed.

Hazaar wasn't short, at least to him he wasn't, and he was in perfect health. His lung scan showed a pair of healthy lungs and his heart was also working as it should. There were no deformities at all on him. TazirVile had been shocked when he had seen the muscle on his secondborn's body, Hazaar had a strong chest, had good muscle on his arms and legs and he also had the workings of a six-pack as well. His back was smooth but even there he looked strong. Hazaar was still growing, TazirVile guessed that he'd reach a height of six feet in the next hundred to two hundred years while Lhaklar, from what the exam had said, had stopped growing in height. TazirVile made a copy of his secondborn's physical exam, folded that and Lhaklar's up then placed them in the inside pocket of his slate gray tuxedo jack then he turned to his two sons. The first thing on his mind to ask was about the cigarettes, where they were getting them, who had them and for whatever smokes that either of his sons had to be handed over. Before he could ask, Eldass cleared his throat then handed up the magazine that he had taken out from the inside of Hazaar's shirt.

"Now, I don't mind some light reading of this material." TazirVile said, he walked up and held the magazine out that had a red cover that had a girl that had a towel held on her front side only that had the word Playboy on it. Lhaklar took it then handed it back to Hazaar who snatched it and slid it back underneath his shirt. "Smoking, though, I do mind that. You both are way too young to be smoking.

"Your lungs are much too undeveloped at your age to handle smoking," TazirVile continued on, his two sons were just looking at him and were not saying a thing. "which of you carries the smokes?"

"That would be me," Lhaklar stepped forward, he had a daring glint in his eye that his father noted. "I don't smoke all the time and I have none on me at the moment."

"So if I searched your person I'd find nothing on you?" TazirVile stepped up to his son, he and Lhaklar stood eye-to-eye.

"Search me," Lhaklar said. "you'll find nothing but a pocket knife and a wallet on my person."

TazirVile ran his hands over his son's clothing, Lhaklar hid the smile but inside, he was laughing. As his father had been preoccupied with the reading of their physical examination results he had slipped his cigarette case back to Hazaar who had it held behind his back. TazirVile, like his son had said, found nothing more than a pocket knife on his son. The knife was nothing to concern him with, he had one and he had had one when he had been Lhaklar's age. He let his son keep his knife, which had a four-inch, stainless steel blade and had a handle that was medium redwood. TazirVile, sensing that he should also check Hazaar, gently pushed Lhaklar out of the way then began to run his hands over his secondborn's clothing. Hazaar carefully, and quietly, shoved his brother's cigarette case down the back of his pants after his father had gotten through searching through his pockets and had started checking his shirt. Like with Lhaklar, TazirVile only found a small knife, a four-inch, stainless steel bladed pocket knife that had a golden dragon handle that had a can opener on it fashioned to look like the wings of a dragon that he was rather impressed with and liked a lot, on his son's person. TazirVile contemplated confiscating the knife, he had not been allowed to keep a pocket knife on him when he had been Hazaar's age. After a few seconds worth of thinking this over, he relinquished the knife then stepped back. Hazaar, who did not like having anyone touch or search him, stuffed his pocket knife back in the pocket that it had been taken from then looked out at his father.

"There won't be anymore smoking between you two, hear me?" TazirVile said sternly. His two sons stared out at him hard. "You can keep the knives, as long as you don't hurt yourselves with them or try to hurt someone else with them but absolutely no smoking. Hear me, Boys?"

"Loud and clear." Lhaklar said.

"Yeah, yeah. I hear ya." Hazaar said, he had his fingers crossed.

"Good, now that you've been healed and examined, where's your mother and Bile?" TazirVile asked his sons. When his sons didn't answer he walked up to them, he stared Lhaklar in the eye and asked again. "Where is your mother and Bile?"

"Bile was digging a hole to China under the house before we went out," Hazaar answered. "they're probably on the other side of the planet by now."

Lhaklar didn't laugh and neither did anyone else in the room, he continued to stare the man in the eye who was standing so close that, if he wanted to, he could heabutt with no problem. TazirVile asked twice more where their mother and Bile was got two more wise-crack replies from Hazaar before he reached over and slapped him on the hip. Hazaar lost his funny mood and got angry, he lunged at his father, went past Lhaklar who had tried to grab him, and swung his fist. TazirVile ducked to the side then grabbed his secondborn's wrist. He gave Hazaar four, well-meaning spanks then sent him back over to Lhaklar who grabbed him, slid him behind him then lunged forward himself. He swung a distracting punch, had that arm grabbed then swung his other fist which collided with the side of his father's face. Before he could cheer, before he could say that's for my little brother you creep, his father swung his fist into his stomach that gave him six spanks before sending him back to the corner where Hazaar was. Lhaklar glared out at his father and that got him a slap in the face. TazirVile, who had gotten tired and frustrated at the now misbehaving antics of his two sons, walked a few feet from them.

He knew it was coming, he and his little brother had frustrated their father a bit too far and with his little brother saying something about their mother being off with her fabled "boyfriend" they had made one angry man. The Goblin named Eldass rushed forward and grabbed Hazaar's wrist, he held him back while two other Goblins, Abevo and Losal, walked over and grabbed him. He was wrestled to his knees then made to look up at his father. He had been told that one who didn't struggle when another searches through his or her memories went through less agony and, since he knew the spells to dispel his father from his mind he just let him enter. He felt the sensation of his father going in, searching through his memory banks and files, he didn't struggle or put up any fights, he let him. TazirVile, had he not of been busy looking for answers as to where his wife and stepson were, would have wondered why his firstborn wasn't putting up any fusses but, since he had to keep control of his own mind he had to keep his wondering to himself for the time being.

"Pensieve!" Lhaklar said loudly.

TazirVile was cast out of his son's mind like a rubber ball, he had just reached a memory of the apartment where Lhaklar had come from when his son had said the spell to discard him from his memories. Lhaklar shot up to his feet in one, fluid motion then in another he flung Abevo and Losal off of him then he turned and swung his fist at Eldass. Before his fist collided with Eldass' face it was grabbed by his father, who forcibly turned him around then grabbed him by his biceps. Lhaklar felt his father seeping into his mind again and, again, he didn't fight him. He let his father enter, he let his father do his searching then, just as his father was about to look into the memory of him leaving the apartment to go to the hot spring he said the spell again. TazirVile shook his head, blinked his eyes then went in again for another try. Lhaklar's head was spinning now, he felt dizzy from the constant trespassing of his mind by his father and he was starting to get mad. His father saw one memory before he could say the spell to dispel him and that was of him looking at Bile who had been seated in the recliner that morning wearing nothing but a pair of red and white shorts and a baggy, white shirt. Before his father could listen in, he said another spell, this one who keep his father out from his memories for about one full hour.

"Impus pati!"

"You went to the University of Telepathy, didn't you?" TazirVile asked after he had been dispelled from his sons memory banks. "Only one who has knows of them spells."

"I might have gone for a few hundred years." Lhaklar said.

"Good to see that your education wasn't neglected then." TazirVile said, he then nodded at Abevo and Losal then had them move his firstborn over to the side. He then looked at Hazaar. "I do hate doing this, if you boys would just tell me what I want to know... I'd not invade your minds and look into memories of your pasts."

Eldass and Homsi held Hazaar's arms as their master went into his memories to find where Bile and Mistress Angel was, at first they thought that the younger boy was going to fight and cause himself to go through the pain of having his father seep into his mind but, after a full minute had passed, Hazaar quieted down and just stared forward into his father's eyes. TazirVile, had he of been able to think and wonder, had also thought the younger of his two sons in the room was going to fight as well. TazirVile was able to see a memory of Hazaar leaving the apartment and then Hazaar yelled out Pensieve, which was a spell done to dispel one from another's memory banks. TazirVile shook his head to clear his mind then went in again, he got past some of the blocks that his son was putting up, some of the walls, and then he latched onto a memory of Hazaar talking to the youth he had seen on Zeta Ren. Just before he could hear a name, Hazaar yelled out another spell to dispel him. He was growing very frustrated now and entered his secondborn's memory banks harder and with more force, he went right back to the memory he had been looking at before his son had dispelled him a second time. Just before he latched on, Hazaar ripped his arms free from Homsi and Eldass.

"Reducit eu!" Hazaar yelled, he shoved his father back after he had dispelled him from his memory banks then ran and grabbed Lhaklar and together they ran out of the medical room.

That automatic table had done wonders in healing them up, they both felt a little stiffness and a little bit of soreness but they were able to run much better than they did before they had slid onto the table. Due to there being no one in the hallway, or in the hallway that branched off of the one that the medical chamber was on, they ran freely. They madly dashed, Lhaklar was slow in acquiring his speed because of his height but after making a few turns he had gotten his legs untangled from each other he went faster. He ran past his brother, looked back once to see him adding speed to his run, then he ran on around another corner before putting the breaks on. Hazaar slammed right into him, nearly made him fall then both of them turned on their heels and headed the way they had come. They had ran right into one of their grandfather's, Cheshire Ubalki, and just as they rounded the corner to head back the way they had come they ran right into their father so they had no choice but to, again, put on the breaks and admit to surrender. Their father walked up to them then reached over and grabbed them by one shoulder. He then shoved them back down the hallways that they had ran through then he pushed them into the room that they had been in before he had taken them to his medical chamber.

"I am not only thoroughly angered by your attempt to escape but thoroughly surprised that both know the spells to stop one from looking into the mind of another." TazirVile said to his sons. "Hazaar, did you also go to the University of Telepathy or did your brother do a big, bad no-no in teaching you himself?"

"He went-..."

"I was not asking you, Lhaklar." TazirVile said quickly, cutting his firstborn off. "Hazaar, was it your brother who taught you or did you got to school to learn the three spells that you used on me?"

"What's the big deal if he taught me or if I went to the University of Telepathy?" Hazaar asked.

"It's a big deal, it's against the law for one to teach such extreme lessons. You could be very badly hurt by the teaching of one who wasn't educated him or herself in the dealings of Telepathy." TazirVile replied. "So, is your question to mine an answer? Did Lhaklar, here, teach you himself?"

"No, I went to the University of Telepathy. Same time he went." Hazaar replied, he purposely left Lazeer's also going at the same time as he and his brother which made Lhaklar sigh quietly in relief.

TazirVile concealed his relief in knowing that his two sons had gone and gotten an education in Telekinesis and Telepathy until after he had asked where the University of Telepathy was located, which was on the moon of Zeta Looviniari, then he went over and sat down in the white wicker chair that had a red cushion on the seat. He told Lhaklar and Hazaar to sit on the white couch that had the knitted cover on it, which they both did, then he asked for them to tell him a little about themselves. Lhaklar was the one who did most of the talking, according to him both of them had gone to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic for the full term, had a full diploma and that they both had also gone to the University of Telepathy together, Bile, Lhaklar said, had also gone to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and that he had broken a record in track that had stood for thousands of years. TazirVile let his firstborn talk for a while then he asked for him to let Hazaar take over for a short while, which his son did, although reluctantly. TazirVile had a feeling that they were both hiding something from him and he wanted to know what that something was, when Hazaar said nothing when his turn came around, TazirVile began talking.

"You're at that pivotal age where you're angry quite a lot, aren't you?" he asked his secondborn son.

"According to mom, yeah." Hazaar replied.

"Normal, bet your brother, here, went through a similar phase when he was your age."

"Uhhhh... yeah but a bit more destructive." Hazaar said, Lhaklar snickered then dropped his head.

"Destructive?" TazirVile asked.

"Yeah, he broke four kitchen tables, three chairs and kicked the door out, completely off of its hinges once."

"Sounds like something I did on the latter one." TazirVile said. "Only difference was that I ran into the door instead of kicking it out."

"Mom had to putty up the walls quite a lot before her girlfriend got home because of Bile several times." Hazaar said.

"Lets can the boyfriend/girlfriend thing," TazirVile said. "I highly doubt if your mother is seeing anyone."

"Damn, thought I'd get ya on that one."

"So, what all did Bile do when he was going through that temper stage?" TazirVile asked.

"Super destructive, scary destructive." Lhaklar replied before his brother could.

"Hazaar, tell me now how destructive he was." TazirVile gave his firstborn a you-hush look.

"Broke four windows, punched several holes in the walls, flipped the sofa over for no reason..." Hazaar thought hard about his older brother slapping four glass glasses from the kitchen counter, after a few seconds he watered it down. "he also slapped four glasses, of the glass kind, not the plastic, from the kitchen counter. Mom got out of the way quick on that one."

"That sounds quite a lot like my brother and nephew, Bile's father, on that latter one." TazirVile said.

He cut to the chase after that and asked about the fellow that he had seen Hazaar talking to in that one memory he had seen. Both of his sons went silent for a while which prompted him to ask again, when they didn't answer again he just sat back in quiet. The air in the room had gotten muggy with the asking of that one question so he knew that it was that that they had been keeping from him. He let his two sons be in quiet for a short while then he stood up and left the room, leaving them alone for only five minutes. His mother and Cheshire asked if everything was going well when they saw him, he said that things were doing fine then he went to the kitchen for a small bowl of fruit for each of his sons. He went back to the room that his sons were in, opened the door then went in to find that his sons had stood up and had walked around some, Hazaar was just coming out from the bathroom while Lhaklar stood against the wall. TazirVile sat the bowls of fruit down on the bench that was on the end of the bed then he retook his seat. His sons ate the fruit quickly then sat down on the bed, it was then that he got serious about the other youth.

"So, was it another male that fathered that one fellow, Reezal?" he asked. "Who is he?"

"Our brother." Lhaklar replied quickly.

"Thank you, Lhaklar. I figured he was related." TazirVile was again annoyed by the fact that his firstborn had answered him and not his secondborn. "I have no intention of breaking you or your mother away from any offspring she's had or brothers or sisters that you have that were fathered by another man but I do need to know who that guy is and who his father is."

"Can't really call him our brother, or mine for that matter." Hazaar said, TazirVile leaned forward slowly. He was waiting for more. "He's his son."

"Pardon me?" TazirVile asked in shock, Lhaklar looked at his brother in a weird way. "You fibbing me? Pulling my leg or are you being serious? Lhaklar is much too young to be a father. He's only two thousand, one hundred years old."

"We have no idea who his father is." Hazaar said. "He arrived in a basket at our doorstep one day. I say he's Lhaklar's son but..."

"You're full of shit, Hazaar." Lhaklar said, he shook his head miserably. "He's our brother, that's all we're telling you."

After a few more minutes of back and forth questioning about the Reezal boy, as TazirVile called him, he stood up and exited the room. Lhaklar and Hazaar breathed in relief then went off to the corner where Lhaklar reached into his pocket and took out his small, circular communicator that he had slipped into his pocket before leaving his and Bile's bedroom and that he had just remembered that he had. He and Hazaar both agreed that Bile couldn't help them, he was too hurt and sore, they decided that if they were to call someone that it either be best for it to be either their mother or Lazeer. Lhaklar clicked his communicator on while Hazaar went to the door and listened in for anyone, or anything, that came down the hallway. He wasn't good in keeping his communicator charged so he had time for just two conversations before it went dead, Lhaklar pressed his thumb down on the button that was on the side of his communicator then brought it to his lips.

"Lazeer, mom, anyone at the apartment?" he asked, there was nothing but static on his end so he tried again. "I repeat, is anyone at the apartment? Mom? Lazeer? Bi-..."

"Lhaklar! Where in blue blazes are you and Hazaar?" their mother's voice came through the communicator with a frantic concern to it. "I come home for lunch and you're both missing, where are you two?"

"Mom... I went out to the hot spring for some relief to my pains and sorenesses for only an hour. Hazaar followed me." Lhaklar said shakily, he swallowed twice then went on. "w-we were caught by dad. We're being held as prisoners in his ship."

"I have a feeling she is pissed and we'll be needing an obituary written here and soon." Hazaar said after their mother had gone silent for a full minute and an half.

"Mom? D-did you-..."

"You both deliberately disobeyed me and got yourselves in a pickle!" their mother exclaimed angrily. "I suppose you both thought you'd call me or possibly get Lazeer on the ringer and then be let off the hook? Lhaklar! You know better!"

"Yes, mother. I do and I'm sorry." Lhaklar swallowed hard, his knees were shaking now. "Mom, pl-..."

"I should leave your asses on that ship... teach you both a good lesson in how to obey me!" their mother exclaimed. "I have to go back to work in twenty minutes, you know what Charles will do or say if I don't come in? I'm fired, we're sunk! No bills paid, no food in the pantries, your brother won't get his glass..."

"Mother..." Lhaklar was now near to crying, he didn't like hurting or making his mother upset anymore than his brothers and he loved his mother so much that it was killing him to hear her talk in the way that she was. "I'm s-..."

"You two best kiss your asses goodbye because once I'm there and I've freed you both their grass. You hear me, Young Man?"

"Yes mom, I-..."

"This is so irresponsible of you, Lhaklar! You've done stupid things in the past, this one takes the cake and then some." their mother began ranting, Lhaklar looked down at his feet miserably. What she had to say next made him go cold. "Lazeer's coming with me, you two hang tight until we get there. When you get home you both go to your rooms and you better damn stay there until I get home from work. You know what happens if you don't."

"Dish toweling of the bad sort." Lhaklar said.

"I'm mad enough to wail on you both with a stick!" their mother said, the communicator went dead as their mother turned the one off that was in the apartment.

"Not a stick!" Hazaar wailed. "Anything but that!"

"I think I'm going...oh yes I am, out of my way!" Lhaklar clamped his hand over his mouth then headed for the bathroom.


	22. Chapter 22

"So, besides healing their injuries did you also do a physical on them or did you decide to skip it?" Cyla asked TazirVile.

"I ran a physical after their injuries were healed." TazirVile replied. "Both as healthy as an OvraOx."

"They look very healthy," Ashaklar said of her two grandsons who were seated across from her at the table. "they'll make for some very handsome men when they get older."

After getting sick after contacting their mother and then getting scolded, eating was the last thing on Lhaklar's mind. Hazaar, beside him, was eating a little but the conversation and having people around him that he both didn't know and didn't trust had him so thick that he could barely chew, much less swallow and digest. Their father had left them be for only ten minutes then when had returned, he had told them that they had family that wanted to see them. He had told them both to behave themsevels then he had escorted them from the room that had been put in then he had walked them down the hallway, he had said not a word to them during the walk so that had made for them both being a bit on edge, to the dining room where there had been, what Lhaklar continued to call them, an army awaiting them. It was an army of a lot of men, women and children but, at once, when they saw him they had signaled him out from the others and that had made for a bad first introduction. Seeing Bile's father, Master Vile as the bastard called himself, filled them both with such as anger that it took their father three spanks each just to get them under control. They had taken a seat, their father was at the head of the table while they were on his left side with a female named Eshal being on his right. The women were, naturally, the first ones to spark up a conversation on them. It was all, they're so cute, they'll be handsome men when they get older, did you run a physical exam on them and other junk like that which sickened both Hazaar and Lhaklar to the core. The men had a better way to converse on them, somewhat... it seemed that a lot of the men were concerned over their physical and mental maturing and education, their grandfather, DuruVile Bolushi Surfeit, had quiet a hot mouth on him that was starting to get to Hazaar quite a lot. The man seemed to not have a thing good to say about them or their father. Both Lhaklar and Hazaar had a feeling that this meal was going to be one of the longest in their lives, they wished that their mother hurry up because they both wanted out of the ship and away from the people in it.

"I think Hazaar is very cute," Uevaa said again, this was the third time she had said this and Hazaar was damn annoyed by it. He groaned silently then stuffed a sausage roll in his mouth and began chewing.

"Are you sure that Hazaar is fully healthy?" Irka asked. "Sudir is taller than he is, he was taller than he was at his age as well."

"So was Selik." Cyla said.

"His physical results said he was one hundred percent healthy," TazirVile said. "He's not sh-..."

"I'd have a real physical done on him, one not done by a table." Cyla said. "That way you know for sure, he looks right stunted for his age."

"Look right hot over there, babe." Hazaar said.

"Pardon me, Hazaar, but this is an adult conversation." Cyla said. "You eat. We talk."

"Lady must not like compliments." Hazaar said, Lhaklar elbowed him in the side then told him to eat.

"Lhaklar looks stunted for his age as well. What did his results say? To me he looks just too thin." Irka said.

"Results came back saying he was in fine health, even his lungs came back normal. No damage on them." TazirVile replied. "Not an ounce of fat on him, very well muscled."

"He really should have some fat on him," Irka said. "Vile wasn't but so muscled at his age."

"I was thin up to one thousand, two hundred and twenty years of age." Master Vile said. "Bile also looked much too big for my liking. Still a boy yet he has a man's body, that is not good for one his age."

"You jealous, Finger Nail Thruster?" Lhaklar asked Master Vile, who was his grandfather but he would not dare allow himself to be called that nor would Lhaklar ever allowed himself to use that term in reference to him. "I've been this way for years and am damn proud of my appearance, thank you very much."

"You might be "proud" of your appearance but it'll throw your physique off quite a lot later on in life." Master Vile replied. "As for Hazaar and his height, I was five foot nine inches at one thousand, one hundred years of age. By the time I reached his age I was six foot, one and a half inches tall and I was still growing."

"He's not lying, he didn't reach his full height until his mid-two thousands." Irka said. "You're both pushing yourselves too hard to-..."

"You make it sound like I and Bile took steroids or something to accelerate our growth, Lady." Lhaklar said, cutting Irka off quick. "We matured naturally... and are still maturing naturally."

Irka got on Lhaklar hard after that, giving him a good lecture on how to not interrupt his elders then she went on about how he and Bile were way ahead of schedule with their growth and then, as if to piss both Lhaklar and Hazaar greatly, she started to insult their mother. Irka went on, saying that their mother was pushing them to become adults too early by having them go out to hunt, by letting them smoke and letting them acquire the muscle that both he and Bile, and then she added Hazaar after their father had said something about Hazaar having a good muscle mass on him, had on their bodies. Lhaklar had to grab Hazaar just to keep him down in his seat after Irka further insulted their mother about how she was letting him and his brothers walk freely about and do as they pleased. By the time Irka had finished her insulting of their mother, Lhaklar's internal clock said that only five minutes had passed since he had talked to their mother. It was silent for a short while then the big, mountain of muscle that was their uncle, KurukVile Shonsinu Surfeit, spoke up.

"So, was their educations neglected like we all think they were?" he asked, Lhaklar looked over at his uncle sharply.

"I can safely say that neither of my boys have had their educations neglected." TazirVile replied. "Lhaklar and Hazaar both knew the spells to dispel me from their memories and they could only learn those from going to the University of Telepathy."

"That's... surprising. Glad to see that Angel didn't neglect that on the boys." KurukVile said.

"Anything else?" Master Vile asked.

"According to Lhaklar, he, Hazaar and Bile all went to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic as well." TazirVile said. "Bile broke a record in track when he went."

"We'll have to look up their records then," Irka said. "you and Vile need to take a real, good look into their enrollment, the dates on their forms, any records that they made, their grades..."

"I have plans to do that." TazirVile said.

Lhaklar and Hazaar both snickered inside, if their father did look for their records at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and at the University of Telepathy he'd have to look up a different name for them as they and their two brothers had enrolled under different names. It had been their mother's idea to enroll them with their names, both first, middle and last, spelled backwards to throw off their father's and, surprisingly, no one had noticed. Lhaklar, for example, had gone to both Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and the University of Telepathy under the name of Ralkalh Uhsolc Tiefrus while Bile had attended the school under the named of Elib Eliv. Hazaar, he had had to be careful when he had enrolled in both Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and the University of Telepathy due to both his first and middle names. He had enrolled in both schools under the name of Raazah Rialt Tiefrus and, again surprisingly, no one had picked up on it and no one had even bat an eyelash on the spelling of their mother's name either, all of them had put her name down as Legna EnerI. Sometimes, when Lazeer, who had enrolled at both Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and the University of Telepathy under the name of Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus, was in a particularly annoying mood he'd call him and his brother's by the names that they had gone by when they had enrolled at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and the University of Telepathy. Lhaklar and Hazaar said nothing of this to their father or to anyone else at the table, they kept this piece of information to themselves and went on eating.

"So, you two listen to this Earth-music crap that the humans put out and listen to or are you both on my brother's side when it comes to music tastes?" Efagti asked.

Lhaklar looked up then over at his father slowly, he had not listened to classical music since his mother had taken him and his brothers to a safer location and he was damn glad for that. He had grown distance from piano, trombone, violin, saxophone and trumpet-type music a long time ago, the music heh ad attached himself to was more on the R&B sort. Nat "King" Cole, Charles Brown, B.B. King, Little Richard, Little Walter, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles and Bo Diddley to name only a few. He drove Bile insane when it came to listening to music, he'd just slip in a Charles Brown or a Ray Charles or even a Little Walter disc then sit back to both listen and watch his brothers antics as he tried to make the noise, as he called it, to evaporate before it swept into his ears. According to Bile, his style of music was going to rott him and his brain, at least it was better than Hazaar's genre of music. Hazaar liked to listen to rap music which just made his inner ears want to pop out the white flags of surrender. Hazaar's brand of music was noise, all noise with just one or two audible words and just too damn much bass which made it sound like someone was banging their partner a little too hard on the other side of the wall.

"I've not listened to classical in years, more into R&B now." Lhaklar replied, truthfully.

"Yuck!" Efagti made a face.

"Isn't Etta James an R&B singer?" Eshal asked.

"Yes! She's the matriarch of R&B music!" Lhaklar exclaimed.

"You and I have similar tastes then." Eshal said. "What about you, BroSis?"

"Rap," Lhaklar replied for his brother, who was glaring at Eshal, she merely smiled at his brother which sickened both of them to the core. "he's into that noise, stuff."

"Think we need to get Hazzy on a better trend of music," Ashaklar said. "I've heard that stuff myself and it's nothing but junk. Something a junky would listen to."

"It is not!" Hazaar exclaimed, Lhaklar reached over and tapped his elbow. "Least it's better than country music. I die every time I hear Johnny Cash play on the radio."

"I'm okay with country as long as it's good country." Ashaklar replied. "More of a classical music listener myself."

"So, what does Bile listen to?"

The woman who had asked the question on what genre of music their older brother like to listen to was one of their aunts. ZajraVile Madrelass Surfeit was her name and she was a short woman in accordance to both Lhaklar and Hazaar. She stood a short, five foot, three inches in height, had light tanned skin and deep purple hair on her head, Lhaklar and his brother had noticed that she had a ring of dark brown hair, or fur or whatever it was, around her waist. She had elongated ears which made her look like many of the others at the table, they were slightly sticking out of her head, her eyes were peach colored and she had a little bit of make-up on her face to make her look prettier. She was wearing a peach colored dress that had a red belt around the waist and had red shoes on her feet, there was a diamond and ruby bracelet on her left wrist and a ruby necklace hanging down from around her neck. Their mother had told them once that Zajra was one who liked the same-sex in a partner, it did look that way because, sitting beside her with her black, cloven hoof in Zajra's hand, was a goat-woman that had long, white fur rolling down the sides of her head who was wearing a pair of blue pants, a light blue blouse and blue shoes. Their mother had told them that Zajra's partner's name was Poa and that they had a close relationship.

"That's one of my daughter's," DuruVile said when both Lhaklar and Hazaar only looked at Zajra and didn't answer her question. "from my fourth marriage t-..."

"Kovina, we know." Lhaklar said. DuruVile absolutely hated being interrupted, Gaajah looked at his father warily then hunched his shoulders.

"You was given a lecture earlier on how not to interrupt your elders, I do hope you don't need another one." DuruVile said sternly.

"Hazaar, Lhaklar's talked enough for the moment, why don't you answer your aunt's question." TazirVile said. Hazaar said nothing, Lhaklar was the one who answered Zajra's question.

"Anything loud, noisy and makes the walls rattle."

"Thank you, Hazaar." TazirVile said, he rolled the fingers of his left hand over his eyes in his annoyance that, once again, Lhaklar had said something and not Hazaar.

"Lhaklar seems to be a bit of a chatter box," AraimeVile said. "or is it just he don't want Hazaar to say something that he shouldn't?"

Their mother had told them that AraimeVile Elleve Surfeit was their uncle, Kuruk's, older sister and she looked it. She wasn't very tall, she was an inch short than Hazaar, five foot, ten inches tall and she had glowing, blue eyes with white pupils and blue skin. She had no ears on her head and she had a rather unemotional looking face. Their mother had told them that she wasn't married and it did look that way as she had no partner, male or female, at her side. She was wearing a dark purple dress that had light purple ties, buttons and tassels on it and there were dark purple shoes on her feet. The woman seated beside her was her and Kuruk's younger sister from the first batch of offspring that Duru and Cyla had had before breaking up. AzvraVile Kila Surfeit looked like a combination of her mother, Cyla, and father. She had small ears that stuck out slightly from the sides of her head that were dark blue, there were dark blue, Tiger-like stripes on her ears. She had dark blue skin, darker than Hazaar's, and her eyes were a glowing green that had light yellow pupils. Azvra was wearing a skin-tight, dark gray dress that had a zipper on the sides, there were dark gray heels on her feet. Their mother had told them once that Azvra had stayed single, like her sister, and, again, it did look like she was still single as there was no male or female partner seated beside her.

"Hazaar's going through that temper phase," TazirVile said. "not to mention that I do believe that they are keeping something secret."

"That other fellow?" Vaiba asked.

"Him and their mother's and Bile's location." TazirVile replied. "I've asked, I tried to search their memories and so far I have gotten no answers."

"Order them to spill their secrets." DuruVile said. "Use a spell, a potion or something. I would also like to know so we can get them off of this planet and where they should be."

"Use a spell or a potion, we know the counter spells to rebuff anything you dish out at us." Lhaklar said strongly. DuruVile slapped his hands on the surface of the table then stood up sharply.

"Listen to me now, Boy. I didn't take that mouth from your father when he was younger, I didn't take that mouth from any of my children and I won't take it now from one of my grandkids. Watch yourself."

"He's so scared he's about to-..."

TazirVile reached over and slapped Hazaar on the back of the head then he glared at Lhaklar and told him to watch his mouth. The man named Shaam, who was their great-grandfather, spoke up and said that if they were his sons they would be having red mouths after mouthing off like that. The man, who their mother had said was a right kind, understanding and nice man, seemed to have a stern side to him that they both noted. Lhaklar checked his internal clock, ten minutes had passed and yet their mother had not come to help them. He was starting to wonder if she was coming at all, he wondered if she was going to teach him and his brother a good, firm lesson of when and how to obey her by leaving them with the family that had captured them. Lhaklar returned his father's glare then went and put a spoonful of his green soup which tasted awful in his mouth. His father waited until he had swallowed then he slapped him again in the back of the head for glaring at him. This made Lhaklar mad, he turned and was about to say something and that was when his father slapped him fully in the face. Had it of been his mother that had slapped him in the face, he would have had a hard time not tearing up but, since it had been his father who had slapped him instead, all he felt was deep anger.

"You're doing right well in the disciplining department, Tazzy." Ashaklar said after she had seen her son discipline both Lhaklar and Hazaar. "I'm surprised at how Lhaklar is acting, he use to be a very well behaved boy."

"That's Angel coming out of him." Master Vile said. "I can just imagine how much Hazaar and my son have of her in them."

"So, do either of you have the ailments that your father has?" Cyla asked, just the tone of her voice and the way that she had asked her question pissed Hazaar off.

"Neither of us have any "ailments" to our make-ups." Lhaklar replied, he then said under his breath, "Except being in a room with a bunch of wacked out imbeciles."

"BroSis looks angry." Eshal said when she saw that her little brother's face had gotten a harder look on it.

"It's Hazaar you imp, not BroSis!" Hazaar snapped.

TazirVile had just gotten up to reprimand his secondborn son for his word usage towards Eshal when, suddenly, the ship lurched then a red light went on and off. An alarm sounded that the ship was being attacked and that got TazirVile to, instead, order everyone to stay in the room. Lhaklar looked at Hazaar, nodded his head then grabbed his little brother by the shoulder and stood up. He high kicked his father in the chest then ran out of the room with Hazaar following beside him. TazirVile, with his grandfather and older brother following in his wake, followed the two of them down the hallway then lost them as they turned a corner. Lhaklar had no idea where he was going so he placed his hand on the wall to feel the vibrations of the ship and pinpoint where and exit was. He saw that it was two turns and two hallways away, the ship lurched heavily to the side, made an awning sound then went quiet for only two seconds before lurching again. Hazaar was thrown to the side of the wall, he bounced and turned around fully once, barely missed being captured then ran on. They both leaped over Homsi and Eldass, who had positioned themselves to stop their escape then ran on. They had just reached the hallway that the hatchway was on when they heard their father yell for the door to be jammed. There were sparks flying off of the hatchway doors, they saw a small hole and there was a fire on the carpet right in front of the hatchway. Lhaklar was the first one to reach the door, he saw a small, red button and punched it. The hatchway doors swung open only enough for them to run out before jamming.

"Someone's in big trouble," Lazeer said when they ran into him.

"Lazie? You was the one at the h-..." their father yelled out for the door to be unjammed so he could exit it which prompted Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer all to run down the ramp then across the camp. "Where's mom?"

"On the ship."

A rock wall rose up in front of them then swung around them to bar their escape, Lhaklar swung his arms to the side and made a portion of the wall explode so they could run on then he glanced back. His large, oval Pistachio-colored eyes nearly burst out from his face when he saw the serpent that was his mother that was coiled around the ship that they had just escaped from. The snake, Titanoboa, had been discovered on February, 5, 2009 and had been said to reach a length of forty-two feet and had weighed around two thousand, five hundred pounds and be a dweller of the tropical areas of the planet where it had reached degrees of up to ninety degrees farenheit, it had evolved soon after the asteroid had struck the planet and had wiped out all of the dinosaurs. The snake that Lhaklar had seen around his father's ship was, without a shadow of a doubt, a Titanoboa but it wasn't the actual snake. The snake was a dull red color, had stripes that were an even duller red and the snake had dull green eyes. Lhaklar turned around and began running again, he put on some speed that gained him a few feet from his father who had blasted the rock-made crater walls that had once trapped him and his brothers. Before Lhaklar and his brothers could reach the forest on the other side of his father's camp they were tripped up by a root that their great-grandfather, ShaamVile Klondike Surfeit, had made appear above the ground. Before their father, uncle and great-grandfather could reach them a red shield appeared over and around them. Their father slid to a stop then slammed his fists on the shield hard, he was zapped back which only added more fuel to his already angered state.

"Thank... Good... Ness!" Lhaklar breathed a sigh of relief. "Safe and away from them freaks."

"Might be safe from them, but from mom the Titaness of Snakes we aren't." Hazaar said.

TazirVile, as mad as a raging bull, turned around in time to see the dull red snake that had even more dull red stripes and dull green eyes that was coiled tightly around his ship unwrap itself. His O-shaped mouth dropped low when the snake slithered down to the ground, the first thing that he thought of was the protection of his kids so he shot arrows of green and black fire, a comet of golden fire and then he swung his hands and made a chunk of ground rise up in front of the snake to bar it from coming closer. His family, Homsi, Eldass and Losal all ran out from his ship just as the snake rumbled forward, the ground shook as the snake, who he guessed weighed a good, solid two thousand plus pounds, ricocheted forward. His rock wall was smashed into pieces, he threw golden fire at the snake then he started making missiles fly up from the ground then shoot towards the snake, these had no effect so he tried setting the snake on fire and then entrapping it in a cage of rock which, when he made the rock cage form around the snake, exploded into thousands of pieces. Like a speeding locomotive, the snake barreled past him then went into the shield that his sons were in.

"Oh shit! Lhaklar! Hazaar! Reezal! Get out of there!" he shrieked when he saw the snake coil around his two sons and the youth he had seen on Zeta Ren nearly two months ago. "What the hell are you doing! Get the fuck out of there!"

Lhaklar stared in fear at the snake as she slowly shrank in size, it wasn't the snake that had scared or and he definitely wasn't afraid of his father at the moment and neither was Hazaar. Just one look at them fiercely angry, dull green eyes that were going from dull green to a bright, shiny emerald-green and were starting to get a little ring of golden-yellow around a set of black pupils made both believe that they were in deep trouble. Their father was yelling at them to run, they couldn't do that, if they did that would make their mother even more madder at them and they were already deep enough in a hole as was. Lhaklar began to count the times his father had struck him, he had been spanked ten times and then he had been slapped three times, Hazaar had been spanked fifteen times and then slapped once, both of them had a feeling that they were in for more. Their father stopped yelling for them to run when he saw that the snake was really their mother in one of her transformations. His father, and all of his family, circled the shield and began yelling all at once which added a touch of embarrassment to the situation that Lhaklar and Hazaar were in. Lazeer stepped over to the side, far out of the way of his mother's anger which was great. She had yelled for him to get in the kitchen, had relayed what was going on then had said that she needed his help. Since the clouds had grown gray over the sun and would be for some hours as there was some rain forecast later on, he had gone with her to help. He had used his Acidic Powers on the hatchway door after his mother had begun to wrap around and tighten around the kite-shaped ship that had a skull on the front, he was a natural with his Acidic Powers and he was damn proud of that. Their mother's chest heaved up and down twice then she rushed at them in a blink of an eye.

"What did I say! I specifically told all of you to stay your asses in the shield and away from this camp!" Angel screamed at her two, disobedient sons.

Lhaklar had nothing to say, he had gone only out to the hot spring to relieve his pains while Hazaar... well according to him he had come because he was bored. If he would have said a thing, his mother would have had a comeback for it. If he would have said anything on him needing pain relief, his mother would have said for him to of taken one of the Ibuprofen's that were in the second bathroom's medicine cabinet. If he would have said that he had had a moment of weakness because of his pains and had not been thinking of the consequences, his mother would have said that that was damn well obvious. If he would have said anything on the hot spring's naturally warmed up water helping him and his pains, his mother would have come back with the you could have heated up some water by simply taking a deep, heated breath then breathing it out while soaking in the tub at home. Lhaklar looked down at his feet for only a second then he received a big surprise, his mother reeled her hand back then swung it forward. His cheek hurt him, he fought to not cry and lost it due to his pride having been smashed into bits. Just as two tears rolled out of his eyes, his mother turned on Hazaar and dealt him a similar blow.

"You two just caused for the shield around Green River to have its spell removed," Angel yelled at her two crying, pride-lost, sons. "I'm thoroughly disgusted by your actions! Thoroughly! You both know better than to disobey me! Wh-..."

"Mistress,"

Angel turned around and saw that Homsi had entered the shield that she had put up to protect her and her sons while she was disciplining them. With a snarl, she sent out a gold comet of fire at the Goblin, who ran to avoid it then she made the ground rise and sweep back, sending Homsi out of the shield completely. Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer all dropped their O-shaped mouths in shock then closed them when Angel turned back around and looked at them. Before she could start up again in telling her two disobedient sons what their punishments would be, Eldass rushed into the shield. Angel turned on Eldass like a wild cat, she sent fire fingers and firecicles at him then made the ground roll back like a wave to cast him out of the shield. Losal and Homsi then rushed in, and she sent them packing by throwing a ball of fire at them then sending four air punches in their direction that sent them flying out of the shield. Tazir, she saw, was giving the orders for the three Goblins, and now Zshon, Kalach and Abevo, to go into the shield to get her to calm down. Before Zshon, Kalach and Abevo, who was Kalach's little brother, had a chance to enter the shield she sent back a rolling wave of both dirt and flames that sent the three flying then she began rolling her arms about. Discs of golden, red and black air swept off of the shield at Homsi, Losal and Eldass who were rushing back to re-enter the shield, they were sent flying back by shards of golden, white and red lightning. With the Goblins stepping back and Tazir stopping his attempted stop of her disciplining, Angel turned back to her sons.

"Get your asses home, I don't want to see either of you out of your rooms for the rest of the day." Angel said to Lhaklar and Hazaar. "Tomorrow, you're going to have a list of-..."

"That's quite enough, Angel."

Like a raging volcano, Angel turned and began attacking her grandfather who had discovered that the shield that she had put up was on not fully solid. KurukVile was a much more threatening opponent and she had quite a fight on her hands just to dispel him from the shield. She threw out comets of blue, yellow, red and clear fire, punched the ground and made it roll back then she made an air tornado which he was able to avoid then he rushed in and grabbed his up. Thinking fast, Angel made her body become engulfed in white flames then, after her grandfather had backed off, she sent a funnel of golden air at him. He surprised her by grabbing her attack then sending it back as an air whip. She received two lashes across her back before Lazeer yelled out. KurukVile, thinking quick, used Angel's attack against her shield to cancel it out. Lazeer sent out a stream of red acid at the man who was his uncle, the man was wearing a black and gold tunic that had a black belt around the waist and black pants, there were black boots on his feet and a gold chain hung down from around his neck. KurukVile had his back turned to the youngster, when the red acid stream struck him he roared out in rage, turned around then made a whip of fire and swung it. Lazeer screamed out in pain as his uncle sliced him across the chest then made a whip-lash appear on his left hip. Angel leaped in and took two flame whippings before her grandfather dropped his whip of fire.

"Baby, you needn't discipline the boys but so hard." TazirVile said as he walked up. "I'm actually glad that they disobeyed you, wouldn't have been able to speak to them had they of not done so."

"You're glad? How the hell would you feel had it of been you that they disobeyed?" Angel spat. "Lhaklar," Angel waved her arm back at her secondborn son. "is usually very obedient but, as of late, he's not been adhering to my instructions to stay in the shield and Hazaar," Angel waved her hand back at her thirdborn who looked down in shame. "he is also usually very obedient but at times he does need some reminding of who is the one in charge."

"I understand, baby. Had problems with them both while they were inside the ship." TazirVile said. "Hazaar, especially."

"You expect him to be obedient to you when he doesn't know who you are?"

"He knows I'm his father."

"Technically none of us know you anymore." Lhaklar said, having gotten over his teary moment.

"Well, this is our chance to get to know each other. Angel, your firstborn by me happens to think he's the one that Hazaar needs to take orders from. You aware of this?"

"I am and that's because, of my four boys, he's the most mature." Angel replied.

"Well, time for him to start acting his age and not act as a full-grown adult or as a parent." TazirVile said. "We have much to speak on the boys but, before we do and before we head off to the ship," TazirVile looked at the youth that he had seen on Zeta Ren, the youth that had periwinkle-blue skin, circular eyes that was silvery and shiny and who had a thin row of red hair that was about two inches in width that swung around from one side of his head to the other. "my love, who is that youngster? I'm not going to separate you from any offspring you've had with any other man, I just need to know who this young fellow is."

Angel thought hard on this, she had Lhaklar and Hazaar behind her and to her right, standing side by side in a depressed state because she had slapped them and had put them in their place then she had Lazeer who was directly behind her. She, too, had grown particularly tired of Tazir and his family calling Lazeer an unknown youth who, quite possibly had been fathered by a different male. LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit, or Lazeer as he was called by her and her sons, was a full on, fully assured, son of TazirVile Lajoshu Surfeit, the grandson of DuruVile Bolushi Surfeit and Ashaklar Zoopray, great-grandson of ShaamVile Klondike Surfeit and Egla Shaar. She had wanted Tazir to find out for himself who Lazeer was but, obviously, he was still struggling and, obviously Lhaklar and Hazaar had obeyed and respected her wish for Lazeer to not be known unless their father found out on his own. Angel sighed, for her sons sake she didn't want him to remain an unknown or said to be a bastard child. Shaam had walked towards Lhaklar and Hazaar, she put off telling Tazir who Lazeer was for only a second. In one, fluid motion, she sent her great-great grandfather back where he had been standing by sending out a weak air blast then she went and grabbed Lhaklar and Hazaar. She moved them beside Lazeer, where she figured they were safest, then she turned back around. Tazir had stayed put, he had not taken a step closer to Lazeer or had said anything or had made a sound. She respected that, all that he was doing was looking at Lazeer, giving him a good looking over. Angel walked over, turned around then placed her arm around him.

"Look familar to you, Taz?" she asked, she used the petname that she had started using for him before he and she had known that they were Universal Mates.

"No, my love. I don't see an familiarity." TazirVile replied.

"I'm surprised at you, you know that young fellow there. He was born at Cawanuuk Hospital sixteen hundred years ago. You was there."

"Who is he, sweetheart?" TazirVile asked, he had a serious tone in his voice that made Angel walk away from him and go back to her sons.

"apparently you aren't ready yet to have all of us under the same roof if you can't remember your youngest child." Angel said, she grabbed Lhaklar and Hazaar by their shirts while Lazeer grabbed her arm.

"My love, I am ready. I've been searching for so long now. You three, and that youngster there, need to come home with me now." TazirVile said.

"Where are you going, Lass?" ShaamVile asked when he saw that his great-great granddaughter was in position to teleport. "It's all over now, you needn't run off anymore. None of us will harm you or your sons, by Tazir, Vile or otherwise."

"I'll leave you with some clues as to who my youngest son is." Angel said. "He was born on February the thirteenth of the year two thousand, five hundred and ninety-nine in Cawanuuk Hospital on Moas. His first name starts with an L, his middle name starts with a Z and his last name starts with an S. He was born prematurely at five and a half months and was said to not live for long."

TazirVile lunged forward a bit too late, Angel teleported with her three sons after dropping him her hints which made no sense to him at all. As he stared at the spot that she, Lhaklar and Hazaar had stood only five seconds before, the wind began to gust and gale around him. He shivered twice as he tried to figure out his Universal Wife's clues at who the youth was. She had said that the unknown youth had been born on February the 13th of 2,599 at Cawanuuk Hospital on the planet that he lived on and where Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer had all been born on, that the young fellow had been born premature at five and a half months gestation and that the youth's name started with an L, his middle name started with a Z and then his surnamed started with an S. As he thought about the clues, his family began to disperse around him, leaving him with only his mother and stepfather, Qeeta, Efagti, Amadh, Blaiga, Phaggo, Qhuakiz, Defe and Eshal, his young daughter, standing by his side. He thought for two, long, cold minutes then the idea of who the youth was popped into his head like a firecracker. He broke out in gooseflesh, not because of the cold but because of the idea of who the youth could be. Could it be that the hints that his wife had thrown at him about that youth's identity mean that he had one more child, a prematurely born child that had been said not to live but a few days but who had lived for four months, be still out there?

"Reezal?" he said into the wind. "Lazeer spelled backwards?"

"Tazir, it's right cold out. Think we need to go in, sweetie." Ashaklar said gently, she touched her oldest son's shoulder and gently led him back into his ship. He was mumbling to himself and she took that as the depression taking a hold on him. She felt for him, she couldn't believe that Angel had said she'd not come home because of one youth.


	23. Part 3

Their mother found them a few things to do in the apartment before two big, major storms hit that had given her the idea to have most of their grounding chores happen outside. In one day, fifteen inches of snow fell. Lhaklar shoveled the snow off of the sidewalk and driveway while Hazaar swept the remnants to the side then they both climbed a ladder to knock all the snow off of the roof and clear the snow from the gutters. On day two, another fifteen inches of snow fell so they had to do it all over again and then, on day three of the storm, a whopping twenty-six inches fell and it all froze quickly. Lhaklar had to chisel the top layer of snow, which had a consistency akin to ice, off of the stack of snow that had accumulated on the sidewalk and driveway, Hazaar slipped and fell three times when he came up behind him to sweep the snow that had fallen or he had left behind. When it came to the roof, Lhaklar slipped and had he of not grabbed the gutter he would have received a right bad injury to his back. Both Lhaklar and Hazaar cleared the roof of the snow and ice then replaced the gutter before going inside. For four days straight after that, it snowed so heavily that their mother gave them ordinary house chores to do then, on the fifth day, she doubled them chores as it had gone below zero outside and she had not wanted any of her sons out in that sort of flu-creating temperature. Bile got better slowly, he was constantly playing it up about how his two brothers had got caught, by the time the week was over he was fully better, not sore anymore and was gearing to go outside but, due to the weather, he couldn't so he just stayed inside as did Lazeer. For two, solid weeks Lhaklar and Hazaar were shoveling the walk and driveway or doing house chores, their bodies got hard and firm in new muscle and their hands got callused and sore. After two weeks of grounding and chores, their mother figured that they had learned their lesson and let them off the hook. By that time, the third major storm swept in and they were blanketed in a full thirty inches of snow in one, twenty-four hour, day. Lhaklar had kept up to date on the newspapers, there had been articles written all about them and he had clipped each one out and added it to his folder after reading them. He was looking at them now.

_HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit Found Alive_

_In a surprising turn of events, one of the younger sons of TazirVile Surfeit was discovered alive and well just a week and three days before and was taken captive soon after by his father after he and his older brother, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit, were spotted at a hot spring located only a half mile from the camp that the Surfeit clan have been residing in for a little under two months. HazaarVile Surfeit was treated for injuries that he had sustained from a fight that had involved several in the Surfeit camp and then was given a physical which cleared him of all ailments and declared him fully healthy. _

_HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit was born the secondborn son of TazirVile Surfeit by Angel Irene, TazirVile's Universal Wife, on April 23, 2,599,093,908 at 6:01am in the mansion owned by his father, TazirVile Surfeit but, unlike his two, full brothers, he was not conceived naturally, instead he was conceived through artificial insemination after this mother tricked her father, Vile Vile, better known as Master Vile, into taking a curse off of her that he had put on her to keep her from having any other children by his uncle, TazirVile Surfeit. Ironically, HazaarVile Surfeit was said to be a girl up to his birth. HazaarVile went missing, along with his mother and brothers, one thousand, seven hundred years ago and, up to recently, had been thought to be lost in one of the many plagues or natural disasters that Earth has encountered in that time span._

_"He was very healthy, short for his age at five foot, eleven inches but looked in good health." ShaamVile Klondike Surfeit, HazaarVile Surfeit's great-grandfather, said when questioned about Hazaar._

_"He's one thousand, seven hundred years old and going through the age-appropriate phase of being extra moody but he was fully healthy." TazirVile Surfeit said when questioned on his secondborn son._

_HazaarVile and his older brother, LhaklarVile Surfeit both escaped with the help of their mother, Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit and the youth that was seen two months ago by their father on Zeta Ren. Before Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit left with her sons she left a few clues on the identity of the youth that has yet to be identified. TazirVile Surfeit and his family are currently looking into her clues and are also looking for further answers as to the identity of Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit's fourth son._

_Sons Said to of Gone to Two Schools, Information Not Found_

_TazirVile Surfeit, ShaamVile Surfeit and Vile Vile, better known as Master Vile, were sighted as going into the esteemed academy of Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic the day before to find the records of their just recently discovered to be alive kin, Bile Vile, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit and HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit. The three spent several hours searching the archives of the school without finding a thing on the young Bile Vile, LhaklarVile Surfeit and HazaarVile Surfeit saying that the three had gone to the school. After visiting that school, TazirVile Surfeit and his stepfather, Cheshire Ubalki, went to the school that is located on the moon that revolves around Zeta Looviniari called The University of Telepathy, to find if LhaklarVile and HazaarVile Surfeit went to the school, again, after a few hours of searching, no information was found and the search was called off. _

_"Lhaklar said that he and his brothers went to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic then he and Hazaar went to the University of Telepathy afterwards." TazirVile Surfeit said when questioned about why he was at the schools looking for information on his sons. "We found not a thing on their being at the school, we even checked the records made from the time that they would have attended the schools and found not a one having Bile, Lhaklar or Hazaar's name on them."_

_It's unknown if the three have had an education or not but sources have said that, due to no information being found, that both TazirVile Surfeit and Vile Vile are thoroughly angered by the white lie that had been said to them by LhaklarVile Surfeit. LhaklarVile Surfeit and his brother, HazaarVile Surfeit, had not been seen in four days. Weather on Earth in the location where they have been said to roam is right bad, torrential snowfall has fallen on the state of Wyoming in the United States and temperatures are right bad at the moment. Everyone in the Surfeit camp located near Green River, Wyoming has been stuck inside their ships for a few days. Ice and snowfall are high._

_Does She Wish To Come Home?_

_A week before, when TazirVile Surfeit and his family happened on and captured LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit and his little brother, HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, they had a short while to be with the two before their mother, Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit, rescued her two sons. A small conversation occurred between Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit and TazirVile Surfeit, she came to him and wrapped her arm around him before walking back to her two sons to teleport back to the town of Green River, Wyoming where she and her sons are not fully believed to live in. She was reported to say before she teleported away with her sons that she and her sons would not be returning home with TazirVile Surfeit until he discovered the identity of, what is believed, her youngest son who TazirVile Surfeit sighted two months ago on Zeta Ren. _

_The deeper question, besides who the identity of the youth is, is whether or not Angel Irene wants to come home with TazirVile at all. Reports say that she acted violent towards several staff of her Universal Husband and towards her grandfather, KurukVile Surfeit. TazirVile Surfeit claims that his wife acted warm towards him and that he did feel that old spark when she had wrapped her arm about him but is at a loss for why she wouldn't come back home. Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit's Universal and Family Husband's are both working on getting into the shield that is around Green River, Wyoming as soon as the weather lets up. Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit, LhaklarVile Surfeit and HazaarVile Surfeit have not been seen for one full week, Bile Vile has not been seen in nearly a month which raises the question on if the young son of Vile Vile, better known as Master Vile, is in good health after the fight that he participated in with his two younger brothers, LhaklarVile and HazaarVile Surfeit nearly a month before._

_Reezal Bakerly; Who is He?_

_With it heading towards the two-week mark since LhaklarVile Surfeit, HazaarVile Surfeit and their mother, Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit being last seen and with it now being a full month since Bile Vile was seen, all eyes are on the Surfeit camp as sources have now been told that the question on the identity of youth that had been seen near three months ago on Zeta Ren by TazirVile Surfeit is now being fully looked into. Reezal Bakerly, as he was signed into the sign-in sheet at Googles For All, a building owned and operated by Navub Barbosa who is an optometrist, was seen a few more times on Zeta Ren and then a few more times on Earth, his last known sighting before the last one that was two weeks ago was made a month ago. Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit left a few clues as the identity of the youth two weeks ago before she, LhaklarVile and HazaarVile Surfeit teleported back to the believed location of their residency, Green River, Wyoming._

_Curiously, the clues that Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit gave sound very similar to her last born son, LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit. Her clues are as followed: 1. Reezal was born on February the 13th of 2599, 2. he was born in Cawanuuk Hospital located on the planet Moas that is in the M-51 Galaxy where TazirVile Surfeit resides, 3. the youth's name starts with an L, his middle name stars with a Z and his last name started with an S and 4. he was born prematurely at 5 1/2 months gestation and was said to not survive but for so long. Interestingly, of all the clues that she has given, only one of them makes no sense. _

_"The kids name is Reezal, we have no idea what his middle name is and he was signed in on the sign-in sheet at Googles For All with the surname of Bakerly." ShaamVile Klondike Surfeit, Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit's great-great grandfather, said when questioned about his great-great granddaughter's clues. "It is possible that his surname on the sign in sheet was fabricated, Angel's was, but we really are stumped about her third clue."_

_"Reezal is Lazeer spelled backwards so we believe that, after Lazeer passed away, she had another by a different man and decided to name him in honor of her fourth child." Cyla Surfeit, nee Dybla, said when questioned about her great-granddaughter's clues. _

_TazirVile Surfeit claims that his secondborn son, HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, claimed that his brother, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit, was already a father and that Reezal Bakerly was his son which, also, makes no sense. TazirVile Surfeit says that the youth looks no older than one thousand, six hundred years of age which would put his son at no more than five hundred years of age in order to of fathered the youth. LhaklarVile Surfeit was a child when Reezal Bakerly was possibly born so that cannot be. The youngest father on record was Puswe Macal, he became a father at no more than two thousand, eight hundred and three years of age and his child, a son, was born with quite a lot of mental issues due to his father being not mature enough to produce healthy offspring and, even so, Puswe Macal had no involvement in the raising of his son due to his immature age. _

_So who is Reezal Bakerly? A son sired by another man soon after Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit left with her four sons one thousand, seven hundred years ago? LhaklarVile Surfeit's firstborn son by an unknown woman? The only answer to these questions is to find Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit and her sons, whether it be four or more as Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit is now thought to be the mother of not four but possibly five, or more, children._

"Think you need a new folder," Bile said when he came into their shared bedroom. "that one is near to exploding."

"I need one of them ring binders that has them clear sheets in it." Lhaklar replied. "Been meaning to get one but..."

"Yeah, make up an excuse." Bile smiled. "Seems like they're finally seeing that they were wrong in the "only the older kids are alive still" thing."

"Not really, they have yet to discover Lazeer's identity." Lhaklar said.

"They that stupid? Flip his name and..."

"They have, they're saying that after Lazeer died mom had another kid and named him after our brother." Lhaklar placed his folder down on his bed beside him.

"Who else would have been born in Cawanuuk Hospital on Moas at five and a half months gestation?" Bile grabbed the string that was propped up on the wall then, with a tug, pulled his bed, which he called a cot, down. He then plopped down on it. "I can come up with an answer so much more faster than they, even if he wasn't my brother and I bet a lot of others can as well."

Lhaklar stood up, he stretched tall, held his arms up over his head then leaned down and grabbed his folder. He walked it over to the bookshelf that was placed right next to the only window in his and his brother's room and placed it in its slot. He had spent so much time in this room over the years that he knew the details of it with his eyes shut. The bookshelf was his, although he did share it with Bile who had a few things on it. The first three shelves had his books on it, he had been an avid reader as a child and he was still an avid reader to that day. He had the entire series of The Hardy Boys, a series that's characters had been created in 1926 by a name named Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging firm, that had been written by many different ghostwriters over the years with each book being published under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon, The Black Stallion, Walter Farley's bestselling series, Nancy Drew, a mystery fiction series created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer in 1930 that, like The Hardy Boys books was written by many ghostwritten by numerous authors and published under the creative pseudonym Carolyn Keene, and, although he didn't read them anymore but just figured that one day they would be rather valuable he had the entire collection of The Boxcar Children that had been originally created and written by an American writer and first-grade teacher named Gertrude Chandler Warner in 1927. Besides the books, he also had some scrolls that his mother had made copies of and had given him. These were important, they were scrolls on Elemental Powers, although their mother had been able to teach them all of what she knew she had not been able to teach them the advanced, very expert steps so she had given him and his brothers the scrolls as a way to help them achieve a better hold on the ability. He, Hazaar and Lazeer also had some scrolls and a full book on Acidic Powers as well, but... of them it was Lazeer who had acquired the power naturally while he wasn't as equipped with it and Hazaar was plain lazy, although Hazaar could do Acidic Powers he had only learned them but so far before his temperamental phase had set in.

Bile had his hunting magazines on the bookshelf along with a few dozen, very well hidden, nudie magazines which he had made damn sure to stash in the far back behind all the books. There were jade figures of bears, rearing horses and two glass Dragons on the lower shelf along with a collection of knives on the shelf underneath that, the knife collection was Bile's as was the two, glass dragon's bu the jade figures of the bears and the rearing horses were his.

The walls in his and his older brother's shared room were dark blue, the ceiling matched while the carpet was a darker blue, there were two or three burn areas that they had covered up after dropping either a joint or a cigarette one night. Bile had his pin-up girl posters up on his wall which, Lhaklar would sometimes admit, that he'd look at and get a high off of looking at them. There was the seductive Rita Hayworth over his headboard. The poster was one of them rare, ancient yet very well taken care of black and white ones, Ms. Hayworth had been photographed seated on her knees on a bed wearing what looked to be a silk gown that had a black lace top, she was looking out of the poster and had a very seductive smile on her pretty face. Bile had found this poster at the local Flea Market a few years ago and had liked it enough to bring it home, it had cost him just sixty-five cents, a fine price for such a fine girl as Lhaklar had said when he had seen the poster. Their mother had said that the photograph for the poster had been taken in 1946 and that, although she had said she wasn't fully sure, it had been taken when she had been on the set of one of her movies titled Gilda. Although their mother had been okay with the Rita Hayworth poster, she hadn't been but so sure of the Raquel Welch poster that his brother had come in with a week later.

That Raquel Welch poster had made for some nice dreams during the night that his brother had put her up on the wall on his side of their room. Oh boy, that lovely dish had been photographed on her knees, with one being held back a ways from the other, one of her hands was on her hip while the other was held up near her temple. Ms. Raquel Welch had been photographed wearing her deer skin bikini, which looked damn hot, for a reason, according to their mother, the poster had been made to promote Raquel Welch's movie, One Million Years B.C. He and his brother had gone to rent that movie and had watched it separately, she had been just as sexy in the movie as she was in the poster. According to his brother, he had found the poster underneath a pile of old, torn up posters at the Flea Market, priced at just a dollar twenty-five and he had been so captivated by the poster, not to mention very much aroused by the pose that Ms. Welch had been doing when the photograph for the poster had been snapped, that he had bought it.

Their mother had said no more posters like Raquel Welch being brought into the apartment after she had allowed for his brother to keep the poster, although his older brother had obeyed their mother he had gone back out to the Flea Market for some wallet-sized photographs of some of the most beautiful, and scantily clad, women he had ever seen. He had seen them a few times and had near creamed himself with each looking, his older brother had bought each for only a quarter each, another damn good buy. There was the topless Hawaiian girl that wore a blue, wrap around skirt in the first photo sleeve, in the second photo sleeve was the photograph of the woman that had been photographed half-naked who was looking down at the floor and then, the pièce de résistance came right behind her. In the third photo sleeve in Bile's wallet was a naked woman who had a thin piece of fabric lying across her waist who was leaned back on a bed with one of her legs held up. The woman had a cigarette in between the index and middle fingers on her right hand and had a little heart charm necklace around her neck. How his brother was able to look in his wallet and see her and not get a boner was beyond him, he sure as hell got one whenever he saw that one particular photograph.

He had a few posters on his side of the room, actually he had a poster behind one of the posters on his wall and that was specifically done to hide the poster of Ms. Marilyn Manson that he had found in the trash one day. It was the photograph that had been seen in the first edition of the Playboy magazine, the very magazine that he had discovered that his little brother, Hazaar, bought and read. His mother would flip had she of seen the fully nude photograph that he had blown up to poster-size lurking behind his poster of Christopher Lloyd's character in The Addams Family, Fester. His most favorite item that was mounted up on his side of the room was the bull Moose skull and antlers that he had taken from one of his hunts before his father had come to the planet. Bile had his Water Buffalo skull and rack mounted up above the door frame. The rustic dresser that looked way beaten and either needing to be thrown out or fixed up and repainted was Bile's, it sat up next to the door frame and had a cool lamp that's base was set up to look like a pelvis and spine that was curved up at the top, it looked odd with that normal, white lampshade on it though. Bile also had his alarm clock that looked like a skull but had eyes that acted as the hour and time windows. His dresser sat off on the other side of the door frame, it was dark brown and had a lamp on it that he had made himself. He had frozen a lightbulb in some water then had sprayed some acid over the frozen cube to solidify it forever, all he had to do was touch the top of his lamp and it'd turn on and stay on until he touched it again. Beside his homemade lamp was an upside down lightbulb alarm clock that he had purchased some years ago for twelve dollars.

"You ever going to finish that model of yours?" his brother asked him.

"Been busy these past few weeks, all I have to do is paint the engine then the outer shell and it'll be done." Lhaklar replied.

"What number does this make? Five? Six?"

"Four, thank you." Lhaklar replied.

Yep, he had his models as well. He had found a liking to his father's vehicles when he had been a kid, he had even bugged his father batty on the questions about them. He had kept this liking after being taken to a safer location by his mother, he had magazines on cars made from 1880 to 1940 and he also had a book on old age cars that he'd sneak a look at from time to time. As of the past few years, he had taken to building model cars. He had a red, 1950 Studebaker on the top shelf of his small bookshelf that was right next to his dresser and he also had a blue, 1960's model, Chrysler on the shelf underneath the Studebaker. Beside the Chrysler model was a model of a red Model A vehicle that had a black top that had been in production from 1928 to 1932. The model car that he was working on now was a 1940 Cadillac which he was painting a burgundy color, the model had come with a thin-leather attachment for the back so if the builder wanted to make the car a convertible he or she could and he had added that to his model. He had half a mind to grab a few more models, they were good to do in times when the weather was bad, gave one something to do and building the models was also calming. He had a mind to purchase the model kit for the Buick Stream, a vehicle put into production quite recently which looked damn fine to him that had real red leather interior and seating, pull up doors and seating for only two persons. He was also interested in the model kit for the Chevy Streamer truck, a truck that had a stream-lined back but looked very truck-like in the front.

"Lazeer went back into his depressed state again." Bile said with a sigh. "Won't leave his and Hazaar's room, just wants to sit on his bed and gaze outside all day long."

"I know... I know." Lhaklar sighed, he was partially to blame for the funds for his youngest brother's glass not yet being purchased. Before a month ago, there had been seven hundred saved up for Lazeer's goggled glass, there was now just four hundred left over from his not being able to work because he had been too injured to dance and because he had been grounded after going outside of the shield.

"Hazaar's been trying to get him to join in on working on that train model that he's been working on for a few months now." Bile said. "No go, just don't want to do anything but sit and mope."

"Hazaar hasn't finished his model train yet?" Lhaklar said in surprise. He didn't so much feel guilty over his younger brother's model not being completed yet, his brother had asked for it when he had left the shield two weeks before because of his boredom, which Lhaklar called peanuts on.

"Hell no, he's nearly done with it." Bile replied. "Coming along nicely, just has the last car to do then he's finished with it."

"Doesn't Lazeer have any models that he was doing recently?" Lhaklar asked.

While he had his model cars from the ancient times, Bile had his pin-up girls and wallet-sized photographs and Hazaar had his model trains and space ships, Lazeer was one who liked to build models of planes. He had built two before the depression had come in then he had sort of lost interest, his youngest brother also had an interest in building skeletal models of animals but, like the model planes, when the depression over his eye causing him to miss quite a lot of things going on in the outside world he had lost interest. Lazeer had perked up some in the two weeks of his and Hazaar's grounding but, as of the past four days, he had slipped slowly back into his depression. Lhaklar looked out the window, the snow was deep. It blanketed the ground in places so deep that it'd come up past his knees. The thought occurred to him about taking his younger brothers outside for a snowball fight or for building snow-families then calling over Bile to destroy them snow-families after they've been built and dressed. The sun was hidden behind thick, gray clouds so Lazeer could go out, the question on his mind was if their mother would approve of him taking his little brothers outside. The spell that their mother had done on the shield to make it possible so that he and his brothers could walk in or out had been undone, they couldn't get out except through use of the tunnel that the humans drove their vehicles in to get to the next town or the counties nearby and if they did get outside of the shield they'd not be able to get back in without help from their mother who would, most probably, be very angry at them.

"You never said what happened after you and Hazaar were captured." Bile said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Anything worth telling?"

"No really unless you want to hear how many times my old man spanked me and Hazaar." Lhaklar replied.

"Spanked? You're what, over two thousand years old and he spanked you?" Bile had leaned forward on his bed, which had white sheets and a cream-colored, wool blanket and two large pillows that were encased in white pillow cases. "I imagine the shock at being yanked over his knee on that one."

"Wasn't yanked over his knee, he swung his hand at us." Lhaklar said. "Also slapped us a few times."

"Good thing I wasn't there, I'd of had him over my knee and..."

"Also had quite a bit to say on how we looked." Lhaklar said, cutting his brother off. "I and Hazaar were said to be stunted, either too tall, short or too thin and they said you was too big and tall."

"Da phaq man, I am big for my age but not so much so that I'm off-balance or sickly." Bile exclaimed. "They're just jealous because they didn't have the genes to look as sexy as we do, Brother. Hazaar's not short by any means and neither is Lazeer."

"They said we two had man's bodies..."

"Last time I checked, we are young men." Bile said, he leaned back on his bed then began acting tough. "And some damn fine young men at that. Look at dem dames that swoon over us, they's jus' jai-luhs that they didn't get a goil when dey was our age."

"They also kept referring to mom as bad. Saying that she had neglected our education and how she's doing wrong in letting us hunt, go out on the town on our own and-..."

"Ma is the best ma in the whole damn universe!" Bile shot up from his bed so fast that it made the springs in the wall snap free. His bed slammed up into its spot on the wall loudly.

Hazaar, down in his and Lazeer's shared bedroom, had a feeling what all the slamming up above him was about. He had relayed what all had happened while he and Lhaklar had been held captive to Lazeer a few hours before and even his brother had acted in that same fashion. Lazeer may be depressed and all, but when it came to their mother and her good honor he cast his depression off to the side and got serious and loud. He didn't think that their mother was doing anything wrong in letting them go out on the town on their own, besides their small purchases like nudie magazines, either half-naked or full naked girls at the Flea Market on the west end of the town and Bile and Lhaklar's smoking purchases and Lhaklar's dancing, they didn't do anything that would get them into trouble. The town that they lived in was a good one, only three crimes had happened in Green River, Wyoming in the time that they had been living there, had it of been anywhere in the hundreds or a crime happening each and every night or afternoon or even in the morning hours their mother wouldn't have said for them to go off and have fun. She trusted them to behave themselves, not get into too much trouble and be the gender that they were. They weren't going to stay home, play make-up, bake sweets or read them fancy girlie magazines that the girls did or do the blah-blah gossip shit over the phone, they were going to act like men, like their gender. Hazaar looked over at his model train, just one more paint application and it'd be done with then he could move onto the next model, he had bought a model engine a few weeks before, a creepy, Halloween themed train engine that he had plans to buy at least four cars to go along with it.

He had started liking trains in his early hundreds, just seeing them zoom on by, on their runs or just hearing the whistles being blown, made him feel such a rush of excitement that was so hard to conceal it was almost torturesome. He liked the older model trains that ran through the train yard in the town that they lived in the best, the ones that had the wheels that were a rolling compartment that was pressed onto an axle then was mounted directly on a rail car or locomotive or indirectly on a bogie, which was also called a truck, the wheels of which that had been cast or forged and that were heat treated to have a specific hardness that would keep them going on a steel track. He liked the steam that came up from the smokestack and how the engineers had to keep chucking coal in to keep the train running and rolling along on the track. The trains that went through Rock Springs were nothing like the trains that rolled through Green River, the Rock Springs trains had long ago upgraded to them energy saver speed demons that made one feel as if their flesh was peeling off of their faces as the train rolled by, not to mention that the trains that ran through Rock Springs also made one feel as if they had had their top half and their bottom half rearranged as the trains ran on a single steel grating that had loops, turns, that went up and then down at outrageous angles and also ran upside down. He had ridden on one of the speed demons once a few hundred years ago after getting his allowance from his mother, he had gripped the steel pole that was in the center of the aisle so tightly that when he had released it his palms were red and blistered, not to mention he had not been able to talk for hours afterwards because he had screamed himself nearly to shitting his pants. He had never ridden one of them trains again, he had hopped plenty of them old trains that ran through Green River several times and they just had a much more steady, fluid, smooth ride to them and they were so much more fun to ride on.

"I'd of throttled them had I of been there to hear them talk bad of ma!" he and Lazeer heard Bile yell. "She lets us walk out on our own because she trusts us! If we went around, shootin' the place up or had babies dropped on our doorstep once a month she'd not let us out alone much less out of her sight!"

"Snowin' pretty hard outside." Hazaar said. "Bet we'd be able to make some mean snowers."

"Probably." Lazeer mumbled.

"Or have a good snowball fight." Hazaar said.

"Probably." Lazeer mumbled again.

"Be a good reason to go outside, you know. Get away from Bile and his yelling." Hazaar said.

"Mom would freak." Lazeer's mumble was nearly inaudible.

"It's nineteen degrees out, bundle up real good and stay in the back. I don't think mom will get mad at us if we stayed in the yard."

"She'd not get mad, she'd freak and ask us if we want to catch pneumonia or something." Lazeer said.

"Not if we had double coats on, gloves and a hat on our heads." Hazaar said, he walked over, grabbed the bedding that his brother had over him and yanked it back. Lazeer was curled up in a fetal position on his bed. "Better than you getting a bad back, you keep lying in that position and you'll get a badly curved back which will make walking painful."

"Man, leave me alone. I don't want to do anything but lie in bed." Lazeer said, he reached down and grabbed his bedding. He yanked it over him where it stayed for only a second before Hazaar yanked it off of him again. "Come on, Hazaar! I am in no mood to go playing in winter's fabulous wonderland. Only the ones that have no eye ailments are allowed to go and build snowmen, throw snowballs and have fun outside."

Hazaar left his brother alone only to head to the kitchen where the phone was to call their mother. The hell if he was going to sit there and watch his little brother mope and keep himself all cooped up when there was that fine, white stuff falling from the sky that had all matter of fun activities just waiting for one who wanted to go out and fun around with it. Besides having a snow fight and building a snowman, or a snower as he called them, or an army of snowers there was their old favorite activity of going out to use their powers to make rifts in the snow, snow forts that were several feet high and build snow castles that they'd pretend to live and rule in until they were near numb with cold and had to come inside to warm up. Their mother's work number was on the fridge, a Food Lion calendar magnet held it up while, right underneath of it, was their mother's cellular number along with her boss' number and Casey Cooke's number, their mother's female friend who was a descendant of one of her friends from back in the ancient days. Hazaar grabbed the red handled telephone that had a curly cord on it that connected to the base of the phone then began dialing his mother's number. When his mother didn't answer, he got nervous and hung up. He dialed Charles Binkleton's cellular then waited, when his mother's boss didn't answer he began to sweat and wonder if there was something wrong going on at the store that his mother worked at. While shifting from one foot to the other, Hazaar dialed the number to the Food Lion that his mother worked at then he crossed his fingers. He breathed a sigh of relief when his call was picked up on the third ring.

"Hello, this is Christie Baker how may I help you?" a pretty sounding woman said after she had picked the phone up.

"Is my mom in the store?" Hazaar asked, he pretended that the woman on the other end was wearing just a bikini and had a Fuzzy Naval in her hand for only a second before discarding the pretendation. "Angel Irene, is her name."

"She is, yes. Who is this that calls?" Christie Baker asked him.

"Hazaar, her son."

"You hold on a second sweet-face." Christie Baker said, he blushed when she called him a cutsie name. It took only a minute before his mother got on the other line.

"Hazaar, what's wrong?" his mother asked, she had a nervous tone in her voice that he took note of.

"Nothing mom, I tried to call your cellular and you didn't answer." Hazaar said.

"Whoops, I must have it turned off." his mother said with a chuckle. "What is it that you're calling about?"

"Is it alright if I and my brothers go outside and play around in the back yard?" Hazaar asked. "Lazeer's right depressed and I was hoping that-..."

"If I say yes, you four going to obey me and stay your wee booties in the shield and in our back yard?" his mother asked him seriously.

"Yes mama, we will."

"Alright, you four can go out. Make sure you have your things on, it's cold outside. I mean the whole nine yards, Hazaar. Coats, gloves, hats, boots and a scarf." his mother said, Hazaar felt like yelling yahoo at the ceiling by her giving approval to their going out to play in the snow. "I'm turning my cellular on, if any of you need a thing you call me, ya hear?"

"Loud and clear, mama." Hazaar said.

"Good, now you four have fun, stay safe and please stay smart. Do your best to not catch a cold or the flu or pnuemonia." his mother said, what she said next heated him up so much that he was sure that if he went outside all the snow around him would melt. "I love you, Hazie. You tell your brothers that as well now. I lvoe all of my precious babies."

"We love you too, mommy." Hazaar said, he wanted to give her a hug.

When the line went dead he hung the phone up then ran over to the broom that was propped up next to the counter. Hazaar jabbed the broom up at the ceiling, making so much noise that both Bile and Lhaklar could hear it even if they were not inside the apartment then he yelled out that their mother had said that she loved all of them and that they could go outside. He placed the broom down then went to the closet for his things just as Lhaklar and Bile ran out from their room. His older sister, Eshal, had called him BroSis while at the table in their father's ship after he and Lhaklar had been captured, healed up and given physical exams, he made damn sure to look himself in the mirror then flash the good, old bird at his reflection. No girlieness to him, he was all male and he was damn glad on that. He slid off his brown shoes that had the light brown ties and replaced them with his heavy snow boots that had a layer of white insulation inside. He then reached up and grabbed his gray scarf, his dark gray gloves and then his gray toboggan hat. He had just slid his hat over his head, and getting his hair tucked all nice and neat underneath the fabric, when his older brothers ran up to the closet and began putting their things on. The last thing that was needed for him to grab was his heavy winter coat that would keep him warm in temperatures below zero.

"Lazeer! Come on man, get your ass up out of bed and get dressed to go outside." Hazaar yelled in the direction of his and Lazeer's bedroom. "Mom said for you to go out, we're to use all matters of torture to do so if you don't get up and go outside on your own."

"If you don't want a big ball of cold snow down your pants, you'll get up now." Bile said loudly.

"Or a snow wedgie!" Lhaklar added.

"I am not going out! Leave me alone!" Lazeer yelled out from his and Hazaar's bedroom.

"You must want me to throw you out in the snow buck naked then!" Bile then began stomping his snow booted feet to imitate him walking towards his younger brothers' bedroom. "He ho hum hah, here I come!"

It took quite a lot of strength for Bile to not explode in a rip-roaring rage towards his youngest brother. He tried to pick his brother up and dress him himself, he tried the snow wedgie threat, he yelled that he was going to throw snow in through the only window that looking in and out of his younger brothers bedroom and then he threatened to call their mother and snitch him out on how he was refusing to obey her orders. In the end, it took the combined efforts of him and his two younger brothers to get Lazeer off of his ass and outside. He tore Lazeer out of his bed, carried him down the hallway then held him while Lhaklar got him dressed then Lhaklar grabbed his legs, held them tight then led the way outside, Hazaar held the door open then, when they were all outside, he slammed it shut. He had locked the door right after his two older brothers wrestled his younger brother out of the apartment, the key to the apartment he had safely in his pocket so if they wanted to go in all he'd have to do was fish it out.

At first, it was just Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar playing in the snow. They kicked snow balls around, had a snowball fight then began to send snow waves at each other by use of their Elemental powers, since snow was a form of liquid, they could send snow waves, snow streams, jets and tornadoes at each other with ease. After Bile had sent a jet of snow at Hazaar, making his younger brother drop down to his keister, they began to make snowmen, snow women and then snow families. Lazeer, after standing underneath the overhanging roof of the apartment that his family lived in for a full ten minutes, decided to join in after Bile had made a skinny snow woman, that he had said he was going to marry, have children with then grow old with, that didn't stay up for long as he had built it a bit too top-heavy. Between each, two snowmen, one snow woman and then some small snowmen were built. Bile went to one of the trees that was in the back yard and tore some sticks off of the branches. He walked over to the snowmen that had been said to be male then bent down. He jabbed a stick at the base of each said-to-be-male snowman which got all of his brothers roaring in laughter.

"Now they are male snowmen." Bile said.

"Now what are you doing?" Hazaar asked, his second oldest brother had dropped to his knees and looked to be making some snowballs.

"So what designates the female snowies from the male?" Lhaklar asked. "These fine ladies need something up 're flat-chested!"

After the snowmen had been given breasts, Bile personally saw to it that they each got flamed. Each snowman was treated to experiencing a jet of golden red fire that made each pop, explode then melt in that order. After each snowman had been melted, Bile turned around, bent down then started shoveling snow at his three younger brothers who quickly built up a fort then began throwing snowballs at their older brothers rump. Bile took twenty snowballs then he turned and rushed at the snow fort. He ran into the pile of snow, made it fly off in several different directions then he grabbed handfuls of snow and stuck them into the backs of his two youngest brother's coats. Lhaklar was smart in getting out of the way, he made a large icicle form in his hand then he ran forward, grabbed his older brothers pants and pulled back. He slid the icicle into the back of Bile's pants then he stepped back and watched as his older brother hooped, hollered and went crazy, Bile ran around the entirety of the back yard, trying to dig the icicle out from the back of his pants while his brothers all pointed and laughed. Just as Bile relieved himself of the offending ice-cold icicle the sun began to come out from the clouds, Lazeer ran underneath the overhanging roof while Bile chased after Hazaar and Lhaklar. In all, the four spent near two hours outside before decided to go in and warm up. Lazeer tossed his wet things in the tub of the first levels bathroom, his brothers followed in his example then he led the way to the kitchen where they found a newspaper awaiting them. As Hazaar made hot chocolate, Lazeer made wise-cracks at how Bile looked like a little girl running all about with the icicle stuck in the back of his pants and Bile checked to see if there had been and messages sent in on the phone while they had been out back playing in the snow, Lhaklar read the paper.

"Hi ma! We got your message, we got Lazeer to go out and he had a blast as did we all." Bile had called their mother after listening to one of her three messages to them.

"That is great! Glad you four had a fun time. You all keeping warm, when did you all get in?" his mother asked.

"About five... six minutes ago." Bile replied. "We made a snowpile for you for when you get home and we made up a bucket of good snow for you. We put it in the freezer so it won't melt."

"That's fine, Biley. Snow cream for desert tonight it is." his mother had a happy tone in her voice. "You four make sure to stay warm, fed and-..."

"Ma?" Bile asked, his mother had become disconnected. He hung the phone up then dialed her cellular number.

"We're sorry, this number is either not available or not in ser-..." a recording began. Bile hung the phone up then started dialing Charles Binkleton's cellular, when he got the same recording he hung up again then dialed the number for the Food Lion where his mother worked. When the call didn't go through he got very concerned.

"Ma's not answering." he said shakily. "She called, I called her and we talked then she got disconnected and won't-..."

"Probably one of the lines got frozen or a limb from a tree-..." Lhaklar started to say.

"From her cellular? I don't think so!" Bile exclaimed.

"Snowing pretty bad outside, probably has the signal from the satellite blocked." Lhaklar said.

"I also called the store she works at, no one picked up. Just rang then said unavailable." Bile said.

"Like I said, weather's pretty bad outside, a tree limb probably went down and snagged a line. The crews will get it taken care of soon." Lhaklar replied.

"Have you tried Casey?" Hazaar asked. "Mom's friend?"

"No,"

"Try her, maybe she can-..."

"Leave her be, if in ten minutes we hear nothing from mom then yes. Call up her friend." Lhaklar said, he placed the paper down on the table. "Quit worrying, mom's cellular always goes out when a storm is on us and the line down at her workplace always goes out when storms blow through as well. She's always called back after ten minutes to tell us she is okay."

Bile looked out the window that overlooked the kitchen sink, although it was snowing pretty badly outside there was no wind so that wouldn't make for the line down at his mother's workplace to be out, he could see his mother's and Charles Binkleton's cellular's being down because of satellite disruption due to the storm but the Food Lion's phone line should not of been down. Hazaar placed four glass cups down that had steaming hot chocolate in them on the table, as he sipped his hands shook slightly. He was nervous about the line down at their mother's workplace being down as well. Lazeer was quiet, he had nothing to say and if he had it would have come out shaky and nervous-like, he only looked down at his hot chocolate, he didn't drink any. Lhaklar, although he had tried to speak in an adult fashion and had tried to rationalize the reason why their mother couldn't be reached, forced himself to drink his hot chocolate. He drank just two gulps then placed his cup down the stared at the phone. For five, long minutes not a word was said then Lhaklar got up from the table and went to the phone. He lifted the phone from its cradle then dialed their mother's cellular number, all he got was a recording saying that the number that he had called was either unavailable or not in service. He then dialed Charles Binkleton's number, he was met with the same message after only three rings then he hung up the phone. With his hand around his wrist to steady it, he waited after dialing the number for the Food Lion that his mother worked at. After the sixth ring, he hung up then turned around and looked at his brothers.

"Should we chance another grounding or-..." Lhaklar stopped, Bile had turned around to look at him. His face was hard with worry and concern. "Alright, gather your things. We're heading out to mom's workplace."

"We going to walk?" Lazeer asked, Hazaar and Bile had already ran to the bathroom where their winter things had been thrown into the tub.

"No, we're taking the Lucerne." Lhaklar said, he reached up and grabbed the keys to his mother's car, a Buick Lucerne that she had discovered one day that had been on its side, pretty banged up and in need of serious repairs. She had fixed the car up herself, given it brand new cream-colored leather seats and polyester upholstery, had made up a whole new engine for it and had had it painted a deep red color. Lazeer ran to the bathroom to get his things with his older brother following on his heels.


	24. Chapter 24

"Got anything on your end?" Angel asked her co-worker, Christie Baker, who was standing nearby.

"Nothing, can't even call you." Christie replied.

"What about you, Charles?" Angel asked the manager of her workplace.

"Nada, doesn't show any bars and my phone lights up whenever I use it. Not lighting up at all." Charles replied.

"Think it could be just the satellite?" Angel asked.

"No, don't think so. Earthquake, maybe, but if the satellite got barred from sending a signal we'd be able to see things on our cellular screens." Charles replied.

"Phone in the office is also not working," Becky Vickers said as she walked out the back door to take her break with the rest of her co-workers. "as dead as a door knob. I lift it and hear nothing."

"No wind to take down any trees but I can see a limb falling down easily." Charles said. "Ice and snow make for heavy stuff for tree limbs."

"True, but that doesn't answer why our cellular's don't work though." Christie said.

When the line had gone dead when she had been talking to her oldest son she had thought that it was the wiring in the apartment as, sometimes, the phone did drop calls and Bile, nor any of her other sons, would dare hang up on her. She had been working then, had thought nothing of it, had thought that her son would call her back after wiggling one of the phone wires under the house, she had given out several orders of Honey Ham, Roast Ham and a large bag of sliced cheese to one of the girls that claimed that she was going to have a small party at her place but she knew better as no one would buy a bag of nearly five pounds of sliced deli cheese for a party unless they were planning on throwing one of them street bouncers where the neighbors would all be yelling for the partiers to pipe down, where the cops would be called and would say for the partiers to tone it down some which would happen for only ten minutes before the music was cranked back up and it would all start again with the neighbors yelling for the music to be turned down or off, before trying to call her sons to see what was going on. To her surprise, her cellular had turned out completely dead. Black screen. No date. No time. No dial tone, just a completely dead cellular that had been working perfectly fine ten minutes before.

She had thought huh then had gone back to work, thinking that something was amiss with the satellite that revolved around the planet that gave cellular phones and other wireless devices signals for usage. She had handed out three bags of Smoked Ham, all to the same girl who had ordered the five-pound bag of sliced cheese, and then she had filled the order for some sausage slices and another order for a half pound bag of sausage and deli cheese before she had tried to call up her sons again. As dead as a door knob, just like her co-worker, Becky Vickers, had said about the main line for the store. She had asked Charles and Christie Baker if their cellular's were working when she had gone outside to take her ten minute break and had been surprised to hear that even their cellular's were not operating. _Satellite must really be having a problem sending down a signal,_ she had thought. She had put that thought to bed after hearing that the main line for her workplace was also down, although what her boss had said could be true that didn't amount to why they had no cellular service.

A satellite revolved around the planet that gave off a signal to the towers where a cellular got its service from, earthquakes were known to disrupt cellular service so she was thinking that a minor quake had happened that had made the lines that were underneath the ground move, maybe one of the lines underneath the ground even split or had a break, but then, she had felt no moving of the Earth underneath her feet. Her cellular, and Charles', Christie's and Becky's, had all gone down when her family had arrived on the planet, it had taken a full thirty minutes before their cellular's were able to be used and, even then, the main line had remained in use so she had no idea what was going on. A tree limb, heavy with ice and snow could have snapped and fallen on a line, someone driving could have lost control and ran into a pole that had snapped or had moved to make the lines become taut, even a squirrel could have made the main line go down. Christie and Becky Vickers, a dark brown-haired woman that stood just barely five foot, three inches tall who had blue eyes, were passing back cigarettes while she and Charles were just standing with their backs up against the back wall of their workplace.

"Any further "lawn gnomes" seen on camera?" she asked her boss.

"Not that I've seen." Charles replied. "Surprised we didn't notice them before. Ugly, little things!"

"At least they were dressed appropriate for the season." Becky said. "Need to charge them for the candy that they'd eaten. What was it... ten bars... twelve?"

"Twenty-one bars of candy, little buggers are putting us under with their sneaky fingers!" Charles spat.

Angel chuckled inside, as of the past week there had been some interesting captures on the security cameras. Charles had looked at the recordings each hour while Bruce Henshaw, their security officer, kept his eye on the cameras during the hours that the store was open, both men had missed seeing the two Goblins on the first day, on the second they had noticed. Although she called them Goblins, more specifically Homsi and Eldass, they called them lawn gnomes. Charles had tried to get them removed to the back of the store, he had given the order for the two said-to-be "lawn gnomes" to be moved to the back of the store where all the spring and summer stuff was kept when they were seen next, Bruce had gone home after heading out to take care of the "lawn gnomes" with a bad case of being freaked completely out. Apparently, he had gone out and had picked up Homsi only to find that the "lawn gnome" was a breathing, flesh and blood creature. Homsi had slapped Bruce, their nice security officer who had only been doing what their boss had told him to do, across the face then had said for him to bug off, to put it nicely. The day after, Alexandra Hemmingway, the daughter of that man, Kale Hemmingway, who ran the joint in downtown called Kale's Worth where the men and women shook their bodies to make money that she wished would be shut down and was glad that her precious babies didn't go near but would flip if she found out if her secondborn son was working down in such a horrid location, screamed after picking up the "lawn gnome" that was Eldass. Eldass had snarled at Alexandra Hemmingway then had demanded that she put him down at once, she had quit the Food Lion on that very day afterwards.

Angel, herself, had had two encounters with the two Goblins. Charles had said for her to relinquish her position at the Deli for a nice, cozy register up front, with Alexandra Hemmingway quitting the day before they were short on people to run the registers. She had seen nine people go down her registers aisle, had made a good profit of five hundred dollars, with a quarter of that going towards her with the rest going towards health insurance, retirement and the works, before she had seen Homsi and Eldass take up their positions. Eldass, it seemed, was rather fond of the Idaho Spud chocolate bars while Homsi looked to be rather liking towards the Three Musketeers, Mounds and Almond Joy chocolate bars. She had purposely bought herself two Valomilk's after seeing the two Goblins. Valomilk was a new chocolate bar that had a liquid marshmallow filling inside a milk chocolate cup, she liked the chocolate bar quite a lot and, when the two Valomilk's had landed near Homsi and Eldass' feet she had chuckled when they had glanced down then had snatched them up. They had, obviously, liked the chocolate bars quite a lot as well as they had nodded their heads after that first bite.

Her two encounters had been quick ones, Lars St. Charles was a regular at the store that she worked at and he had one of the worst crushes on her that a man could have on a woman. He was a stalker, normally came in just to buy one or two things then stand and ask her why she was with no man, if she needed a man to help her raise her sons and if her sons would like to have a father figure in their lives. Mr. St. Charles had walked in, had bought two bottles of water then he had milled around her register line, talking up a storm. Homsi had been the one to notice her on the first day after Mr. St. Charles had hit around, saying that she was hot and that she really needed a husband in her life. Eldass had noticed her the second and last day of her working the register after he had spied Mr. St. Charles reaching over to grab a lock of her hair. Although neither of the Goblins had reacted in any ill-way, she had a feeling that they had cameras on them as there had been a black device right up against their temples that had had a red light around the end. After them encounters, she had had no more. She had been moved back to the Deli section, had gone back to her usual routine and, as far as she knew, the two Goblins had stopped coming to the store two days afterwards.

"Probably got scared and ran for the hills after they saw what all you do in your office." Angel said, Becky and Christie both laughed at her joke.

"No, if they would have seen what I do in my office we'd of seen two very busted up, dead lawn gnomes." Charles replied.

"Is that a confession as to what you do in your office?" Becky asked.

"I told you and we'd be even less on help in our fine store." Charles said.

"I'm filling out the form for why I'm quitting when I get back in." Becky replied.

"Fill it out after what Charles just let out," Christie waved her hand back and forth over her face. "Phew! Even outside it stinks!"

"Those who smelt it, dealt it." Charles said.

"What the hell did you eat before lunchtime?" Angel exclaimed, even she now smelled the odor. It was a vanilla smell but there was also a smell of death and decay mingled in with it which made her nose feel as if it was about to curl up in itself. "Do us all a favor and stay away from... oh gosh, I can't even say it!"

"Women do the toots too, my dear lady." Charles said. "Nothing has slipped out of the hole in my ass in the past thirty minutes."

"Well, whoever did it has one hell of a fart!" Christie exclaimed.

"I thought my kids were bad when it came to having Chilly for supper." Angel now had the fingers on her right hand clamped over her nose. "That's just revolting!"

"I swear, it wasn't me." Charles said.

A few minutes later, Christie and Becky finished their cigarette sharing then went inside, Angel and Charles followed afterward quickly. The smell had not gone away, in fact, it had gotten stronger, so much stronger that they had stood with their hands almost squeezed over their noses. Angel had thought that the smell was familar, the vanilla smell mingled in with the death and decay smell well and just had such a stench to it that it was almost offending. She shrugged her shoulders, not able to come up with a reason for the familiarity of the smell, then went straight to the Deli department. As she went, she noticed that Homsi and Eldass, their near week-long "lawn gnomes", were standing just inside the sliding glass doors. She thought this was weird as they usually stood near the concession area, after she had attacked them after they had entered her shield when she had been disciplining her two, disobedient sons two weeks before she had nearly become overwhelmed with worry that she had hurt them and their loyalties as, to a Goblin, if the one that they were loyal to became violent in any fashion then the Goblin had rights to defend him or herself and, also, break ties and put as much distance between he or she and their former employer and, usually, after that happened the Goblin went into a sort of life where they'd never be hired by anyone for long, be trusted or be able to live in any sort of housing and, also, the Goblin who had broken their loyalty off of the one that they had been loyal to would be talked of badly by other Goblins in their society. Homsi and Eldass were good Goblins who didn't deserve that, she did hope that they were alright. Angel slid into the back of the counter in the Deli and got ready for the second part of her shift, all the while keeping her eye on the two Goblins that were still standing near the sliding, glass front doors.

"She's in the store now, Tazir." TrobrencusVile said into his mouthpiece. "Had two females and a male with her, the male had red hair."

"W-... how many kids has she had since her disappearance!" TazirVile's astonished voice rang clearly through the earpiece that he had banded to the side of his head.

"From what I saw, didn't look related. He was young but she acted more friendly towards him than motherly." TrobrencusVile replied.

"That's a relief! One known child by another man is enough although I can bet she's had one or two more since disappearing." TazirVile's voice now had a relief tone to it. "Is everyone in position? We've been waiting for this day for two weeks now."

"My wife'll be entering the store here soon, I think them blasted Goblins of yours are in position..." TrobrencusVile looked through a pair of brass and gold binoculars that had demonic winged engravings on the scope parts, he checked in his oldest son, TrivitVile, and then he saw that the other Goblins were in position. "Everyone's in position here, no way she'd be able to get away."

"Don't you be but so sure of that, my wife is strong, cunning and powerful." TazirVile said.

"You sure on that latter one? Four, possibly five or six, kids could very well of drained her powers to next to nothing." TrobrencusVile asked his great-great nephew.

"I am positive that she is still as powerful as she was before she disappeared." TazirVile said. "I can see everything that happens through the camera that my general has, keep on your toes and do please, don't hurt her but so much. I'm unable to be there so-..."

"No worries, I'll do as little damage as I can with her." TrobrencusVile said.

It was in the low teens, the ground around him was nearly four feet under the snow and yet here he was wearing just a pair of black pants that had a thin, red fabric stitched into the sides and deep red boots that had spikes running all along the sides. He wore no shirt, he had no coat on and he was not wearing any winter wears such as gloves, a hat or a scarf. One would normally freeze to death or get a bad case of frostbite by wearing what he was wearing but, after conquering twenty cold weather planets he had gotten accustomed to cold weather. Although he liked to do his conquering with a shirt on, or a plain jacket, he was just acting tough for the act that he was about to take part in. Tazir, his great-great nephew, had drawn up the plan for this ambush nearly a week before but, until now, they had not been able to initiate it. He was ready, he would have gone in himself had his wife not of offered and had his wife, his beloved beauty that he had fallen for so hard and was still so in love with, had not of put such a stink up about her becoming a part of the plan. He had insisted on Bahne wearing weather appropriate clothing, a coat, gloves, hat and scarf and to have her good boots on, she was not going to be getting a cold while on the planet and he was damn sure not going to let his kids get one either. Celobra, Benoci, Trivit, Danan, Dazass, Fleebe, Bohir, Impub and Varaxcan had been ordered to remain in the ship when the weather had gotten very bad, he had not let them out for a thing and that included collecting firewood. The only reason why Trivit, his firstborn son and the surviving twin of his first set of twins, was there with him was because he had also put up a fuss about becoming a part of the plan. His firstborn son was wearing a heavy coat, gloves, a very long scarf was around his neck and he also had on a very warm hat and some fine boots that would keep his feet from slipping on the ice and snow and keep his little feetsies warm.

"TrobrencusVile remained single for many thousands of years, he didn't marry until he met the lovely Bahne Botzol at a party who he claimed grabbed him and wouldn't let go. Many speculate as to why TrobrencusVile hadn't married before then, it is said he had a son from an illicint affair with a maid that his brother, RosolVile Surfeit, hired after she was dismissed from working with their younger brother, RaalVile Surfeit but no one knows for sure."

He would have walked up to the new authors of the book, The Chronicle of the Surfeit, and slapped them upside the head good for that passage. Bahne, though not his first by any means, was the only woman he had fathered offspring with. There had been no offspring created by him from other women, either maids from his brother's service or women from planets that he had conquered and who he had layed in bed with. His father had raised him for the clergy, his father had beaten him and pretty badly as well, but his father had not said for him to not get involved in women though. He had noticed his interest in men long before meeting Bahne and, in fact, he had layed in bed with many men before switching over to women and then, after going full female for his bedded companions he had settled on both genders. Would his father of beat him for that? Quite possibly, probably he would, he had beat him for throwing bleach on the artificial green grass in the back yard once so most probably he would have. He had an attraction to men, he liked men but, after sleeping with his first woman he had slightly curved that so he was more interested now in women than he was in men. Had he of stayed with men for his bedded companions he'd not be the father of ten and have two grandchildren, had he of stayed with men for his bedded companions he'd of not met and married Bahne, his lovely wife.

He had been beat for not acquiring Elemental Powers, he had been beat for not getting good enough grades in his home schooled work, and by good grades he meant grades that were A's. If he so much as got a B or a high-grade C out would come that damn leather string, if he spoke back or showed any weakness out would come that dreaded horse whip and dear goodness, if he so much as slept in late out would come that terrifyingly long and smooth leather bull whip. He had ran away five times, yes, who wouldn't? He had gone back, though, due to having no place to go and stay. He did speak good of his father as, had it not of been for the beatings and abuse he'd not be the man that he was today. He'd not be a conqueror, he'd not be a husband, he'd not be a father or a grandfather or an uncle for that matter.

He was a fierce protector of his family, and that included Angel Irene, for a reason. They were his family, he loved them as they were his family and they were the only damn family that he'd ever have. He had grieved when everyone else had when Angel had left with her sons, he had searched and had put in a damn good effort on his part to find her and then he had grieved some more when he had pulled out of the searching. He and Angel maybe had not had the most strongest of relationships, he and she were still getting to know each other, he was taking things slow and so was she and he appreciated that. He hated that oh, I'm such-and-such, I'm your friend and will be forever, you want to go out and play ball or something shit that some people did only to get on ones good side before dropping them like a bad call. She was taking it slow, she gave him respect, although she and he still hadn't gotten along on the Goblin and servant thing, and he had done the same. Bahne had spoken to her as many times as he had and had said that she was a decent, good girl and she had hurt when she had disappeared with her sons as well. Now that she had been found, and that three of her four sons had also been found, she was thoroughly happy again. There was no more of that _if she was here _talk at the table or _I wonder what they'd look like now _talk in the bed on what Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer would look like as mid-teens. It was now _I can't believe how good she looks after raising three boys practically on her own_, _Bile is so big and strong now_, _Lhaklar looks so strong and mature now _and _Hazaar looks very well-grown_. He had taken all of that talk, he had listened to it and had taken it all in with a smile on his face because even he was talking about it. He was agreeing with everyone, though, in how big the boys were. Hazaar had that immature look to him still and from what his father had said, he had man's muscle on him. That was not good and he thought the same about Lhaklar who had been described in exactly the same way. He had seen Bile a few times and also agreed that he was too big and muscled for his age, the boys were in their mid-teens and yet had man's muscle on their bodies that were not yet mature enough to handle them. That made for a severe off-balancing later on in life along with their bodies not able to keep up with the muscle.

Bohir was well muscled for his age but not so much so that he looked off in appearance and he'd not allow for him to work out but so much in his gym back home or do anything fully strenuous. He had done the same with Trivit when he had been Bohir's age and he had plans to do the same when Impub, his youngest son, reached Bohir's age. Baruk had a good, solid body of muscle on him but his was genetically gotten and his father, TrobrencusVile knew, kept a good eye on him when he worked out and wouldn't let him go but so far. Same for Gaajah, Sudir and Selik. Them boys were maturing well, not rushing their growth or anything, Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar looked as if they were rushing their growth and, also, TrobrencusVile worried about their involvement in the hunt. No male child in camp went out hunting, no male child in the camp had so much as picked up a hunting weapon. Bile was really risking getting injured through hunting and Angel was really not raising her sons right by letting them hunt or go out on town on their own. With this thought in mind, TrobrencusVile grabbed his mirror and tilted it up. Bahne, his lovely wife who was on the other side of the store, saw the glare of light that came from her husband's mirror and started walking up to the store to go in and find Angel.

"You must be having one hell of a party, miss." Angel said to the girl who had ordered a five-pound bag of sliced cheese and three bags of Smoked Ham, the girl had been waiting for her, it did seem.

"I am, block party." the girl, a teenager who, Angel guessed, was sixteen or seventeen years old, replied.

"I going to read anything of it in the newspaper tomorrow?" Angel asked. "Or on the news?"

"We'll try to keep it down but... no promises." the girl winked her left eye. "Swiss cheese, three pounds, and a two and a half pound bag of Cheddar cheese and a two-pound bag of Salami please."

"My goodness! You'll have enough to feed an army after I fill this order!" Angel exclaimed, she went to the sliced and began to make slices of the Swiss Cheese order first. "My boys haven't been invited to the party, have they?"

"I don't know, who are they?" the girl, who had platinum blonde hair and green eyes asked.

"Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer."

"You're Bile's mom?" the girl asked in shock. "He speaks quite a lot of you, speaks very fondly of ya."

"He's one of my boys, the oldest in fact."

"I've seen and spoken to Lhaklar from time to time as well. He's right nice but he does have a way with flirting." the girl said.

"He's a good boy. very mature." Angel replied, she placed the Swiss Cheese order in a bag, placed a tag on it then went to get the Cheddar Cheese block.

"Name's Delina," the girl said.

"Angel,"

"Nice to meet ya." Delina said.

She filled the girls Cheddar Cheese order then went on to making up the order for the Salami. Before she could start slicing the cylinder shaped Salami the girl asked for her to slice it so it was half an inch in thickness, the slicer was an older in the store. It had been in use since the 1990's and, although Charles had said that it needed to be replaced as it needed repairs at least twice a month and that he was going to spend a lot to get the new edition where all one would have to do was type in what was needed in an order, the size and poundage and then wait at the other end for the slices to slide out, the slicer worked wonders and she made damn sure to clean it good when her work time came to a close. She made up Delina's order then was just about to say her goodbyes when the girl decided that she also wanted a three-pound bag of Smoked Turkey. Angel had a feeling that the girl was really going to be having a blast at her party, she had enough food to feed an army and then some. As she sliced the Smoked Turkey, Angel caught from the corner of her eye a woman walking up behind Delina. She quickly sliced the Smoked Turkey then weighed it, sliced a few more sliced to make the order appropriately weighted and then placed the slices in a clear, plastic bag. She had just handed the order, after slapping a tag on the front of the bag, to Delina when she recognised the woman standing behind the girl. Delina walked off, she didn't see anything off on the woman and Angel was glad. Bahne could very well of passed off as a human except for her bright, fully blue eyes.

"Hello, Angel." Bahne said.

"Bahne," Angel said. "look like you haven't changed any."

"Nothing different about me, just had two more children is all." Bahne replied.

"Really? Congratulations." Angel said.

"Thanks, so I see you went from being a wife to being a worker." Bahne said.

"Have to do something to have funds for my boys," Angel replied. "their clothing, eats and interests don't buy themselves nor are free."

"True, a mother has to do what she has to do." Bahne said. "So, what is it now in your Earthly household? Five or six?"

"Just my four boys and I." Angel replied.

Four one who had added two children to her family, Bahne Surfeit, born Bahne Brotzol, looked very fine. The hair was still long, it went to the middle of her back, and it was still a creamy color. Her eyes were still a bright, full blue and she still had that hour-glass figure. Her breasts looked a little bigger than they were when she had left with her sons but her hips were the same size. Her face was heart-shaped, the same as it had been before she had left with her boys and she had one a little purple eyeshadow on her eyelids. The five foot, five-inch tall woman had on a purple faux fur coat, purple gloves and she had a purple scarf and a cossack hat. A glance down at Bahne's feet told Angel that underneath the purple winter garments she had a purple outfit. On her feet were a pair of purple boots that had purple faux fur around the top and three and a half-inch heels. Angel looked off to the side for only a second and saw that Homsi and Eldass had moved, they had positioned themselves just inside of the Deli department and had a serious look on their faces.

"Right cold out," Bahne said. "how is it that you picked such a location to raise your sons?"

"Didn't raise 'em here," Angel replied. "we've been here for a little more than three hundred years. It was up north that I raised my boys. Insurance against the plagues, they didn't like the colder climates."

"But your sons could have gotten very sick, still." Bahne said.

"They could have, yes, and they did get a few colds from time to time but nothing serious. They enjoyed it, loved the snow." Angel replied.

"Colds can get worse, though." Bahne said.

"When the house isn't fully insulated and the person doesn't take it easy, yes they can." Angel said. "My sons were and are being raised fine."

"And the hunting..." Bahne trailed off.

"All four hunt, they learned from me when they got an interest and are fine hunters." Angel said quickly. "Especially Bile and Lhaklar."

"They could get very hurt." Bahne said.

"I trained them efficiently, they have gotten hurt from time to time but they've learned by their missteps during the hunt." Angel said, she was now getting annoyed.

"You don't sound very concerned." Bahne said.

"How is it that you found your way into the shield?" Angel asked. "I'm at work so if you wish to get into any squabbles with me on how I am raising my sons you'll have to wait until I get off."

Bahne smiled at this question, her family had wanted one who had more experience and who was more closer to Angel to go in to speak and get her out of the place that she worked at but her husband had been adamant that he be the one to go in and get her. He could be a rather loud man when it came to them important meetings and he had used his loudness to get what he wanted and that was to head into the shield himself and get Angel out from her workplace. Tazir and Shaam, her husband's sweet-tempered nephew who could be a right mean and cruel man in his out right, had done their best to have Kuruk, her husband's great-great nephew who was not only bright in the mind but also very strong, mighty, cruel, mean and dangerous, go into the shield but her husband had persisted. To aid in his want to go into the shield and be a part of the capturing, her husband had leaned back in his chair in Tazir's meeting room then had said, as if it had very little meaning but in reality it had quite a lot of meaning to it, something about the disrupter that he had on his ship.

That Disrupter Ray he had used as a sort of calling card when he went in to conquer a planet in a galaxy that he was working on conquering. All her husband had to do was point the big behemoth towards the satellites, if there were any, that rotated around the planet he was about to enter, press the trigger to get the information on the satellite, configure it then send up a signal from the Disrupter Ray which would shut the satellite down either until he was done conquering the planet and turned it back on or the population on the planet figured out a way to turned it back on themselves. The Disrupter Ray made all conversation via a phone, whether by a main line, house line or cellular, unable to be used and, also, it made for television signals to be down the same as radio contact. It really made for some messy situations and for a lot of confusion, her husband had used that confusion finely when he had swooped into the Cenup Galaxy. A record that had lasted for a thousand years had been smashed by him, few had attempted to conquer a galaxy with a thousand planets in it. Her husband had conquered the Cenup Galaxy in six months time, shattering that old record of a year and six months to bits.

Tazir had supplied a small lot of his Goblin army to go in before them, they had blasted a small hole in the shield for her husband, oldest son and she could get in and then her husband had taken over. He wasn't too keen on the Goblins and, in fact, had struck several when they had simply stood around, doing nothing but glare and snarl at him. She was much like her husband when it came to staff and armies, they should be obedient at all times and then Goblins, both in her great-great nephew's staff and in his army, were just not that. They obeyed Tazir fine, they snapped at attention for him while, for anyone else, they simply didn't listen and got violent. She and her husband even reprimanded their own staff when they needed it and her husband was particularly hard on his army, they didn't get hired for no reason and as for his army, there was just no excuse for any laziness. If she had to, the two Goblins that were standing by the area she was in with Angel would be reprimanded if they didn't behave themselves.

"As you can tell, we have the store on the inside." Bahne waved her hand back, towards the two Goblins that had placed themselves at the entrance of the Deli.

"I can, I've noticed Homsi and Eldass over there now what's your point in taking the store?"

"To have you come out on your own," Bahne said, she then held up a silver communicator that had a large speaker on it that was made of full diamond. "all I'd have to do is say that you're giving us grief in here and my husband will come in. As will the Goblins that are positioned around the store."

"I take it that you think that since I have a job and have raised four sons on my own that I've gone domestic."

"That my answer?" Bahne had her finger just over the button on her communicator. "You coming willingly or will my husband have to come in and get you?"

"I suppose a little common decency is in order," Angel said. "let me grab my things, I am not stepping foot outside without something on me."

"Fair enough," Bahne smiled, she then waved her arm forward. Homsi and Eldass walked over then around the Deli's counter. "see you here in a minute."

"And a half." Angel said.

Not a word was spoken between her and the two Goblins, they were in a fully serious mood which made them so silent but she saw their silence towards her as their way of saying that she had disgraced them by attacking them when they had invaded her space and tried to tell her to not discipline her disobedient sons. Angel went to the cubby that had her name on it and took down her fitted sheepskin, long sleeve suede Bohemian coat. She slid that on, did the buttons then tied the belt around her middle then reached in and grabbed her dark brown suede gloves, scarf and hat. She was just reaching in to get the small bag that she only carried in winter when Eldass grabbed it. She looked at the Goblin for only a second then turned around and walked out from the employees lounge, Eldass and Homsi followed behind her then placed themselves on either side of her after she exited from behind the counter of the Deli. She figured she didn't need to punch out, everyone could see and everyone was seeing what was going on and, besides, she had no intention of going quietly anyways and since it had been twenty minutes since her cellular had gone dead in mid-conversation with Bile she was sure that one, or all four, of her sons would be arriving at her workplace to see what was up.

Bahne smiled when Angel nodded her head then led the way out of the store, Eldass held up Angel's bag which she took slowly and carefully then walked on. It looked quite a lot like one of them old timey boxing meets, where the boxer would be in the middle being protected by the crew with the trainer up front leading the champ to the ring. Although she was confident that she could take care of the situation on her own, she had no intention of leaving without her sons or having her sons being taken from her or captured and put through hell during the search for her, she did hope that her sons made an appearance. She'd feel much more comfortable knowing that they were where they were suppose to be and not where they weren't. Bahne used her communicator once they were outside to tell her husband and oldest son, TrivitVile, that she had her and that she was coming out willingly. TrobrencusVile said he was on the way around the building and TrivitVile said he was also coming around. The sky was overcast in light gray clouds, the sun looked as if it would be clearing up and the sun would be coming out so that meant that if Lazeer came out he'd be vulnerable because of his eye. It was snowing and pretty badly, she could barely see anything as the flakes of snow was coming down so hard and the wind had begun to howl something awful. Angel shivered once, Eldass noticed and placed his hand on her arm. She looked down, nodded her head then looked over to the side when she heard the snow being crunched. As if from a bad dream, TrobrencusVile walked out from the heavy snow with his son, TrivitVile, at his side. Angel shook her head, Trobrencus was wearing nothing but a pair of black pants that had a thin, red fabric stitched into the sides and deep red boots that had spikes running all along the sides. Trivit was wearing items appropriate for the weather, how his father was able to walk around without anything to protect his Zombie-like flesh was beyond her.

"Well, my great-great nephew's Ragamuffin decided to come willingly for us," TrobrencusVile said when he had gotten up to them. "look well for having been on your own and raising several children on your own."

"George A. Romero the fifth would really like to have your calling card," Angel said.

"Really now? That witty franchise is still wheeling out flicks?" TrobrencusVile asked.

"Death Watch Camp came out just last year." Angel replied.

TrobrencusVile rolled his eyes, in one of his conversations over the phone with Angel before she had disappeared with her sons had been on this man, George A. Romero and his movies, which he called flicks. Angel had told him about the movies, how scary they were and how he reminded her of the death walkers, as she had called them. He had ordered one of his staff to head down to Earth to get several of the movies in which she had mentioned, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead and the remake of Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. He had watched them himself, had refused to let his wife watch the flicks and he was damn glad for that as, had she of watched them with him she'd of not come out from their bedroom chamber for weeks and he had feared that she'd be damaged mentally. He had also barred his children from watching the flicks. It wasn't so much the violence and gore that had bothered him, they had but the fact that the zombies were terrifying and for them to of eaten living flesh on-screen would have robbed his precious offspring and wife of their mental stabilities. He had rang up Angel after watching the last film, the remake of Dawn of the Dead, and had said for her to not say another word on the flicks or their creators and to not say a word on him having the flicks or him reminding her of the zombies on the flicks. He had been somewhat offended by her saying that he reminder her of them flesh-eating, gruesome and ugly creatures that walked so stiffly. He was much more stronger, healthier, handsomer and smarter than the creatures in the flicks. For her to say that the humans were still chucking out those crap flicks told him that the humans still had horrid, bad tastes in good watchings.

"They said you'd be a difficult one to catch," TrobrencusVile said. "don't look so to me."

"Who says I'm not." Angel replied. "Aren't you cold?"

"My husband has a natural warmth in him," Bahne said fondly. "like a big, cuddly bear. Only sweeter."

TrobrencusVile had a square-shaped chest that had visible veins crossing all over it, a firm and nicely toned six-pack and what looked to be rock-hard arms that were thick in muscle. Like his head, his body on the left side was a light blue color while the right side was a creamy color and he had several patches of flesh that were discolored either a dark purple or dark blue color and there were several patches of dark red flesh that had looked as if they were hanging down. TrobrencusVile pulled his hand up and tapped a black muff that was on the side of his head that had a long, silver and very thin stick on it that had a red light on the end, she guessed that it was a radio of some sort or a very uniquely designed communicator. Angel took one step back, then another before Eldass reached up and touched her arm. Either the Goblin had seen her stepping back or he was just touching her arm reassuringly, either or, all she knew was that she was stuck and would have to fight to get out of the area. Charles, Christie and Becky, along with all of her other co-workers, were standing in front of the sliding glass doors, they were curious and yet, fiercely frightened at the sight before them.

"Tazir, we have your wife." TrobrencusVile said into his mouthpiece. "we're bringing her out."

"Any fuss involved?" TazirVile's voice sounded concerned.

"None, she came out willingly."

"Keep on your toes!" Angel heard her father say crispily. "She's not to be trusted as far as-..."

"Bring her out, be careful with her please." TazirVile said.

As if on que, the snow and fog around them blew away, making them become fully exposed. Angel looked off to the left and saw her Buick Lucerne and knew, at once, that one of her sons had driven it to her workplace and that they were in the area. TrobrencusVile reached over and grabbed her by her arm and that was what sparked Lazeer's charge out from the shadows. He fired an icicle strand at the man that he perceived as a Zombie who was attacking his mother and it struck home right on TrobrencusVile's shoulder. Trobrencus howled in pain then reached back, Bahne gasped in horror when her husband brought his hand back, it was covered in his greenish colored blood. TrivitVile turned around and began fighting Lazeer while Bile leaped in and grabbed TrobrencusVile by his shoulders. With a great heave to the side, Angel's oldest son threw trobrencusVile at a parked car which slid a few feet then came to a halt. Eldass grabbed Angel by her hand and tried to lead her out of the area then he found himself being picked up and hurled towards the sliding glass doors. Charles, Christie, Becky and the rest of Angel's co-workers screamed in fright when the Goblin crashed through the glass. Eldass got up then ran back out only to find that his Mistress was already on the run. Homsi, he saw, was facing up against Hazaar who was sending out shards of icicles and energy strands that were white.

"Mom, we got here as fast as we could." Lhaklar said when his mother ran up to him.

"Who drove?" Angel asked her secondborn son.

"Me," Lhaklar replied. "if Bile would have driven we'd of gotten here with only half of the car intact."

"Very funny, Lhakie." Angel said, she then turned and looked out at the fighting. Lhaklar, once he was sure that his and his brother's mother was safe, ran off to join in on the fighting.

He looked at the youngster in front of him and felt a sort of pity for him as, like himself, he was wearing no winter garments and had no shirt on. Bile had a thickly muscled chest, a very powerful six-pack and some finely muscled arms, TrobrencusVile saw all of this in a sad way. He saw that the youngster had packed on muscle onto his immature body and that it'd severely hurt him sometime in the future when he went through his third and then fourth stage of growth. Trobrencus looked over to the left slightly and saw that his firstborn son looked to be well within his element with the youth that they had not yet fully identified but called what he had been signed in on the sign in sheet at Goggles For All on Zeta Ren. Reezal, as he saw the youngster, had a gray wool coat on, a scarf and a hat but there were no gloves on his hands. TrobrencusVile turned and looked at Bile just as the youngster ran at him. He put his hands up and slugged out two, strong punches into the young son of his great-great-great nephew then got a surprise. Bile swung his fist hard, TrobrencusVile felt the youngsters strength as the fist pow-wowed home into the side of his face. He took three more blows to his face, one of which broke his nose, before he let his anger take hold of him and began fighting back.

Angel held her hand over her mouth when she saw TrobrencusVile pick her son up then slam him down onto a car then she gasped loudly when Bile jumped up, off of the car then swung his fist into Trobrencus' ribs. The two, a mature man and a mid-teenaged boy, looked very well matched as, as soon as Bile swung one of his fists Trobrencus would swing his. Trobrencus tried to catch her son in the face several times but her son quickly moved his head back and then to the side, he used his body as a battering ram twice, sending TrobrencusVile flying back three times before he reached down to the waist of his pants. She saw two glints of silver then produced a half-smile. Her oldest son had taken a pair of bronze knuckles out from the inside of the waist of his pants, how he had gotten them was beyond her but he was using them to perfection. Blood and then sparks flew off of Trobrencus as Bile swung his now bronze knuckled fists at his body. Trobrencus swung back several times, he caught her son in the back, in the ribs four times and then he clipped her son in the shoulder.

"Lhaklar, you wouldn't do what I think you are now would you?" Bahne asked her great-great-great-great nephew who had stepped up in front of her. "Surely, you know your father would not approve of you fighting a girl."

"Quit acting as if you're joining in then." Lhaklar spat.

"Young Man!" Bahne swung her hand and a purple sphere of energy flew out at Lhaklar. Angel's secondborn son leaned to the side to avoid it then ran in.

She threw several energy strands, a sonic blast and then a tornado of red energy at Lhaklar, the latter of which stripped him of his jacket and nearly made him shirtless, before she was struck. Lhaklar grabbed her then threw her to the side before turning and going back to fighting the Goblin that had ganged up on Hazaar. She got to her feet quickly then ran forward, she leaped right onto the back of Tazir's firstborn son then found herself in a pickle. Just as her husband spit out blood then saw her clinging, fearfully, onto Lhaklar's back, Lhaklar reached back and threw her off of him. He turned around then advanced on her so fast that she had not a clue of what happened. Lhaklar had a set of five-finger knives on his fingers, stainless steel and very sharp, he swiped these down and at an angle. Bahne's arm, right between the elbow and shoulder, was sliced open deeply. She got to her knees then fell to her side, she looked up and saw that her husband had placed himself between her and Lhaklar and was now fighting two.

"You two both will have a lot to talk of when your father's see you next!" TrobrencusVile shouted, he then ran forward.

Lhaklar swung around the Zombie-man then swung his hand just as his older brother began punching. He sliced TrobrencusVile's back open, making several cuts that would join the others that were on the man's back as scars. He had just swung his hand again, catching the man on the back of his shoulders, when the man turned around and grabbed him around the neck. TrobrencusVile raised the youngster up then body slammed him, Lhaklar lay on his back, wheezing and gasping for air, afterwards. Bile, who was now filled with a deadly, dangerous anger, leaped forward and began upper chopping, kicking and head-butting the man who had body slammed his younger brother. TrobrencusVile fell on his rump three times, got up and rushed at the youth then he yelled out when Bile moved to the side. He ran right into the side of a car, his head went through the window and got cut in several areas. Bile grabbed the man by his shoulders, tore him out of the car, punched him six times in the face in rapid succession then he threw him back at the car. TrobrencusVile slid out from the youngsters hands after the third time he had kissed the car, swung around Bile then grabbed him. Bile, like a raging locomotive, roared then reached down and grabbed Trobrencus by his leg then ripped his arm back. TrobrencusVile fell hard to the ground, the side of his head slammed against the cold snow and ice and he saw stars. Bile raised his foot then kicked it right into the side of the Zombie-man's face twice before raising it again and stomping it down. TrobrencusVile thought that the youngster was going to stomp on his head and was slightly confused after he found himself on the other side of the shield.

"Enjoy the snow you bastard!" Bile yelled, he then threw his arms to the side and made the portion of the shield that had been taken down become repaired.

"Baaaaahnnnaaay!" TrobrencusVile shrieked at the top of his lungs when he realized he was now away from his wife and couldn't get to her.

Bahne followed after her husband in being kicked out of the shield, she saw Lhaklar get up then turn and look at her. She felt a sting of fear towards the youngster then saw him raise his foot then stomp it down. The ground underneath of her flipped over with her on it, she appeared just thirty feet from her husband on the other side of the shield. TrobrencusVile, when he saw her, ran over and grabbed her up. Her arm was gushing blood, she was cold and frightened and that both angered and made him feel a sort of fear for his wife. He teleported her back to camp then turned and began pacing back and forth in front of the shield, all the while yelling out his son's name. While Irka and Cyla rushed Bahne into her husband's ship, Angel found herself surrounded by Goblins that were wearing army uniforms. While Eldass was being expelled from the shield by Hazaar, who was also fighting Homsi, Lazeer was holding his own very well with TrivitVile. Bile rushed over to help Lhaklar who had turned to his heels and had gone to help their mother fight the Goblin army that she was fighting.

His body was like that of steel, very hard and strong and that went well with his speed and reflexes. TrivitVile was having trouble now in keeping the youngster that was fighting him down, it seemed that as soon as he threw a punch, the youngster threw three that were laced with a burning acid that had already burned through his coat in several places. The youth had tried to choke him into submission by grabbing his scarf, he had torn it off then had flung it to the side soon after the guy had grabbed it and then he had discarded his gloves and hat as well. He threw two punches towards the youth's mid-section, hoping to take him out by a good blow to the ribs or stomach, but the youth jumped back to avoid his punches. Without notice, the youth swung his fist and a gale of black acid flew out from it. He heard his father's pleas for him to run out of the shield, his father he respected quite a lot and loved quite a lot but he just couldn't comply with his order as, he feared that if he did he'd be showing weakness towards a kid that was many thousands of years younger than he and would be tagged as a coward. He felt the stinging of his flesh as the acid burned through his clothing, as he yelled out in pain he swung his fist down, fully intending to end the fight by delivering a low-blow. The youth jumped back then lunged forward and grabbed him by the back of his coat. He felt his coat being yanked up, over his head and then he felt more pain, more burning as the youth coated him in a layer of acid then electrocuted him with his Energy Powers.

Angel made two flames appear in her hands then brought her hands together, in one motion she turned her hands around then sent out a jet of white fire at the Goblins around her. Twenty of the fifty were driven back while the rest rushed in to continue their assault. She had just to look at the Goblins that were fighting her to know that they were far different than Homsi and the rest of Tazir's staff. Homsi and Eldass were only fighting in defense, these military Goblins were fighting for the pure thrill and energy that was being given off. Bile ran in and shot out two fire jets then he sent out a comet of blue fire that sent five of the Goblins flying out of the shield. Lhaklar kicked the ground up and sent two Goblins flying out of the shield then he turned and began slashing his finger knives at the Goblins that had begun to attack him. He sent several running off with bad injuries before three jumped onto his back and brought him down to his knees. Angel punched her fist down onto the asphalt of the parking lot and made the now and ice fly up, the ground rolled back around her and she used that to her advantage. She kicked her feet out then swung her arms twice, the Goblins that had pulled her secondborn son down to his knees were repelled away as were the Goblins that were around him.

"Hazaar!" Angel yelled. "Leave Homsi be! Concentrate on these idiots!"

Homsi swung out a blue sphere of energy that seemed to of given his master's secondborn son the go to do what his mother had told him to do. He turned on his heels then ran and began fighting the army that had circled his mistress and Young Master's Bile and Lhaklar. He looked off to the right and saw that the youth that they were all calling Reezal was fighting TrivitVile then he looked back at the throng around his master's family. There was quite a lot of yelling, Mistress Angel was yelling, as where Young Master's Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar and then there was the yelling coming from outside of the shield, TrobrencusVile, the man with the bloody cane who had struck him several times after camp had been set up when his master had his back turned, the same as he had done with many of his co-workers. He had to make a choice, call up his master and ask for instruction or head into the circle and fight to protect his master's family who were swarmed up pretty badly. Master Tazir had given one of his generals a camera to wear so he could see what all was going on, surely if his master had seen what was going on he would have called and told everyone to back off. Homsi reached into his burned trench coat and took out his communicator quickly, he nearly dropped it before he brought it up to his lips.

"Master Tazir, there are complications in the field, what are your instructions?" he asked after pressing the button on the side of his communicator.

"Homsi! What the hell is going on out there? Bahne came in injured, she's saying there was an ambush. I lost the signal for the camera, what is going on?"

"The fifty Goblins you've assigned for the plan have turned and started fighting Mistress Angel and her sons." Homsi was now running forward to begin defending his master's wife and offspring.

Bile saw the new Goblin joining in and turned on him but before he could get an attack out he was ganged up by five Goblins who grabbed his arms. With a roar, he swung his body around and hurled the Goblins off of him then he felt something slam into him. His footing slipped and he fell hard to the ground. A Goblin kicked him in the face then he felt something hard slam into the side of his head that made him see stars. He tasted blood, he opened his mouth and spit out blood then he struggled to his knees only to be kicked between the legs then hurled to the side where the back of his head struck up against the hub cap of a car. He went unconscious soon after, Lhaklar, who saw the Goblin attack his older brother, ran in to protect him. He leaped in front of Bile then swept the hand that he had his finger knives on and caught four Goblins then he stomped his foot down and made them appear back in the camp where they had come. He then swung his fists down then up and sent two coils of red and white flames that sent five Goblins screaming back, he repeated the foot stomping to send them back to the camp where his father was located then he turned and saw that there was just ten Goblins left and... he couldn't believe it but one of them ten looked to be fighting the Goblins on their behalf. He looked closer and saw that it was Homsi and decided to let him deal with the Goblins, he turned and began to tend to his brother. He opened Bile's mouth then checked his pulse. His older brother was breathing and that was a relief.

"Ligans in maledictionmen!" TrivitVile exclaimed, he swung his wand and a blue light shot out from it. Lazeer jumped out of the way quick.

"So, you want to do wand fighting now instead of fighting by hand." the youth said, he reached down to the waist of his pants and pulled out a brown wand that had a strand of silver going around it. "I can dig that, Freak. Manducare Vermes!"

"Suspensio!" TrivitVile yelled after he had dodged the red light that had shot out from the youth's wand. The youth twirled away from his attack then swung his wand and a yellow light came out from the end. TrivitVile leaped out of the way just in the knick of time.

He teleported in just as his brother and two older nephews ran out from their ships, they appeared right behind him after he had ran up to the shield to shout out his orders to the remaining Goblins to remove themselves from the shield and quit fighting. This was not suppose to happen, Trobrencus was suppose to lead his wife out or grab her and carry her out, his Goblins were just there as back-up, they were to just be there to stand guard. He saw that Trobrencus was pacing back and forth in front of the shield on his side, he was shouting and pleading for his son to come out and that was what made Tazir's eyes near pop out from behind his goggled glasses. There were eleven Goblins still in the shield, one being Homsi, and none of them were obeying his orders and, also, Trivit was still in the shield and fighting. Kuruk, Vile and then his father and grandfather, the latter two having just teleported in, began shouting orders to the Goblins, he gathered what wind he had in him then grabbed his wand and placed it by his Adam's Apple. He bellowed out angrily the order for all Goblins to remove themselves from the shield at once, his yell reached the ears of everyone inside the shield and his Goblins, once they heard him, ran and exited the shield. When the general ran up to him he wasted no time in kicking his ass then throwing him towards camp. He'd deal later with the Goblins that had disobeyed him, he now had to concentrate his energies on getting Trivit out of the shield and in one piece. Homsi ran up and offered to go in to blast a hole big enough for him to squeeze through, before Tazir decided to take his most trusted Goblin's offer the ground rumbled then grew hot. TrivitVile had ran almost to the shield and then had turned. The youth that they all were now calling Reezal was attacking him with a wand.

"Manducare Vermes!" Lazeer shouted angrily, he had no idea why the guy who he had been fighting for so long had stopped, turned and had begun to fight him again but he figured that if the guy was going to continue fighting then he should to.

TrivitVile had planned on going out of the shield to rejoin his family, he was sore and battered and bruised but when the curse, a bad one at that that could only be taught at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, had nearly missed the side of his head he had turned to return fire and defend himself. He sent several black, exploding clouds out from his wand then he sent a wave of his Sound powers at the youth who ducked to avoid them then he cast out a spell that would sent out a ring of fire from his wand. The youth was driven back by that one, his hand was now bleeding and badly but it seemed that he was still not done yet. He cast out what seemed to be the youth's favorite spell, Manducare Vermes, which was a spell where one would spit out worms for up to eight hours. The youth leaped out of the way then twirled and swung his wand. Daggers of black smoke flew at him, he dodged all but two which sliced into his legs. He said the spell to send out the ring of fire again at the youth and got a surprise, the youth dropped his wand, grabbed the rings of fire and allowed for them to revolve around his arms. The next thing he knew, he was being blasted back almost out of the shield.

"Enjoy the blood, the slugs, the worms and the humiliation you Freak!" the youth yelled, he then swung his wand, which he had picked up from the ground, and sent a white light flying towards him. TrivitVile did his best to get onto his feet and run but he was too sore and his legs were just too tangled up, the light struck him with such force that it sent him sailing out of the shield. "That's for my family!"

Lazeer ran towards the parking lot after he had disposed of the man that looked as if he was part-zombie then dropped to his knees. His mother grabbed him in a hug then she turned back to Bile. His oldest brother had blood coming out from a wound on his right temple, his hands were bloody and they were shaking as was the rest of him and he had plenty of cuts and bruises all over his body. He was breathing, he was away but only barely and that scared him. Lazeer looked over at Lhaklar, who looked as if he was near to collapsing then he looked over at Hazaar. They were all tired, sore and looked as if they would need some medical treatment. Charles Binkleton, Christie Baker and Becky Vickers ran out from the store over to them, the three took one look at Bile then fled back into the store for a medical kit and to see if the phone worked. Angel tore off her coat and placed it over her son then began to rock him. It took all of five, long minutes, before an ambulance rolled up. The crew jumped out, yanked a stretcher out then ran over to Bile. Angel's firstborn son was quickly placed on the stretcher then the crew rolled him over to the back of the ambulance and put him in. Angel leaped into the back just as the crew were slamming the doors shut.

"I-I can't d-drive..." Lhaklar said, he shook twice and very nearly collapsed. He looked as if he also needed medical treatment. "Hah-Hazaar..."

"Give me the key!" Lazeer reached into his second oldest brothers pocket and tore the key out, he then helped Lhaklar into the back then he helped Hazaar into the seat beside the wheel. He jumped in next, started the car up then sped off, in pursuit of the ambulance that had his oldest brother and mother in the back.


	25. Chapter 25

He wasted no time after coming into the living room of his ship in placing the bucket that had had retrieved from the storage area of his ship in his son's hands, he then walked over to his wife and sat in the brown leather chair that was beside the matching couch that she was nearly lying on. Her wounds had been treated and wrapped, after he had gotten his son back to camp he had rushed over to his wife and had wrapped her up in a hug then had kissed her cheek to offer some comfort before heading off to order his staff to get their asses in gear and treat his son for his injuries, which there were many. His son sat on an ottoman, the ottoman that belonged to the chair that he was sitting on, wearing nothing more than his brown boxer shorts. His upper legs had been treated for their punctures, that punk kid had sent several spell-created daggers at his son that had stabbed him deeply in the legs, and his arms from the biceps on down to his wrists were wrapped. His chest and ribs had been wrapped and given a gentle patting of medicine before the vomiting had begun. That punk kid had obviously used a spell to make his firstborn son spit up not only blood but worms and slugs as well. He had thrown a newspaper at one of his staff to get him moving faster to get a bucket and then he had stood up, thrown the man to the side then ran off to the storage area of his ship for the bucket as well. Hell's Bell's, his son was puking up stuff that should not be in his body or coming out from his body, this wasn't a time to be lolligagging, billy-bullshitting and counting coins! He said not a thing to his son after he had handed him the bucket, he understood that his son was not in a talking mood. He was humiliated, he was doing what that punk kid had said for him to do with his damn spell. He had no choice but to go through with the humiliation for the duration of the eight hours that he would be puking up the slugs, worms and blood.

He had not stood around to watch what went on after the rank Goblins and his son had been either banished from the shield or had come out on their own, he had ran up, grabbed his son then had teleported to camp. His wife had rushed over as soon as he had entered his ship and had helped him move their son to the living room, she had helped him remove Trivit's clothing then she had participated in the shouting at the servants. Now, she was just seated with her back against the arm of the couch, her knees held to close up to her chest that she looked more child than adult and she even had her feet crossed. He felt for her, she really had gone through hell the past ten minutes and she'd be going through hell for a few more hours to come as the shock had not yet fully set in. He had warned her, he had warned both his wife and son that there could be a fight involved in getting Angel out of the shield and in her Universal Husband's arms. Had they listened?

Well, sort of. They had both said that they knew of the consequences, that they could be injured and that things could get way out of hand due to the Goblins not taking command from him. They had risked themselves, he had tried to talk them out of it and he had also gotten stern and said no several times only for his wife to come up and start it up with him on him needing a female to go in and talk to Angel first, a woman does wonders more so than a man does, Trob, his wife had said. Well, she had been right in that department. Women did remember things so much better than a man and they did have their way in doing things that made for better outcomes. He had thought on this for a few minutes then he had called for her and had said that she could participate. Then his son had said that he would need a second-in-command, which was pure nonsense! He had had no need for a second-in-command, he would have been just fine in going in on his own with the rank Goblins that his great-great nephew had assigned to be involved in his gallant plan. Trivit had just wanted to become a part of something, he had been seeing things half-so. He knew of the consequences but in his excitement over being a part of the plan he had forgotten them, he knew of the risks but in his excitement of participating in the plan he had forgotten them and now he was injured and vomiting up horrid, scary things. TrobrencusVile reached down, grabbed the waste basket that was made from durable aero plywood that was steam bent and was fastened with copper nails, then threw it at the servant that was in the room. The waste basket bounced off of the servants derriere, clanged to the floor and rolled to the wall, the servant turned around and looked at him questioningly.

"Ale, brandy and Creme de menthe," he said strongly, then he added. "on the double!"

"Yessir!" the servant bowed then exited the room.

"You!" TrobrencusVile pointed at another servant who was just walking by the opening to the living room where he, his wife and firstborn son were in. The servant stood, turned and looked at him. "You get them fools, Tazir and Vile, in here on the double!"

"Yessir!" the servant said, she then ran off to do as he had ordered her to do.

"Take it easy, Trivy." TrobrencusVile said after his son had vomited up a slug then had made a sound akin to a sob.

"Damn disgusting!" TrivitVile hitched in a breath then hiccupped. "Had this done at s-..." he vomited up a large amount of living worms which slapped down into the bucket and began wiggling. He near lost himself after that but kept his composure. "Teacher did this to each of her pupils as a demonstration once. Dealt with ten minutes of this shit and it was horrible!"

"Same lesson was done with me when I went to Pronghorn, it's gross but it's not permanent." TrobrencusVile said.

He was about to say and lets thank the Gods for that when, suddenly, he felt the wiggling mass of either another glob of worms or a slug coming up from his stomach. He swallowed and tried to breathe deeply to keep whatever it was then ducked his head and puked. A large slug with a trail of blood following went pluck into the bucket. He was struggling to keep himself now, it was disgusting, it was offensive and he hated it. He put full blame on that damn kid that he had fought, that damn kid had fought him like a savage and he had not been prepared for a wand fight, he had had no idea that the kid could use a wand or perform the spells so he had been taken by surprise. TrivitVile remembered that rest of the spell that the brat had said, he was not only to be puking up these disgusting, offending slugs and worms that had trails of blood behind them but he was also to be pissing blood for eight hours and that scared him more than the puking of the slugs and worms. A man's penis was used for two things, for creating offspring and passing liquid waste, it was not made for pissing blood. The blood pissing would begin soon and he had plans to not be in the room with his parents when that happened, he had no intention of having his mother or father fussing all over him because of his red, sticky, non-urine pee and wails of fear. He wouldn't have minded joining in with his parents when the drinks came, his father had ordered the stuff to make a Sting N Scream, a mixed drink that had a fine taste to it, but he knew that if he had joined in he'd no longer have it down his throat than it'd be coming up. It seemed that the cursed spell had decided to take double on him after the thought of the Sting N Scream had come to his mind, he ducked his head nearly all the way into the bucket and threw up a huge slug, coated in red blood that had a trail behind it of blood and worms. His body racked something awful after the discarding of that disgusting baby, he lifted his head up just in time to see Tazir and Vile walk into the room, the servant with the drinks walked in behind them. His father stood up, grabbed the drinks then began making himself and his mother a drink. He handed his mother her drink then stood, looking at Tazir and Vile with his drink in his hand.

TrobrencusVile had a style to him, an elegant style that made one ask if it was really his wife who had decorated. Two, brown microfiber couches, one that went around one corner and had a lamp behind it that was hooked and had a red bulb in it, sat off near the western wall, a matching chair was placed between the two that's ottoman was being used as a chair for TrivitVile who had a bucket in between his knees. There were multi-brown pillows on the one couch that wasn't being used while, on the other there was a chair attached to the couch that went around the corner. A brown table sat between these, there was a tall vase on the surface from which some half-dead roses were in. A crystal lighting fixture was above the couch that went around the corner while, hanging down from the ceiling that was light brown there was a matching crystal chandelier. There were brown side tables set in the two, unoccupied corners, one had a brown phone on it while the other had a stereo on it, mounted up on the wall above the stereo was the surround system. There were four photographs up on the walls. One was of TrobrencusVile and his wife, he had her in his arms and looked rather happy. The one beside it was of TrobrencusVile, TrivitVile, DananVile and DazassVile while the ones on the other side of the room were the photographs of CelobraVile, her twin sister, BenociVile, their husbands and children and then there was the photograph beside that one of the entire family, all looking damn happy with wide smiles on their faces. The carpet was light brown, the walls were a little darker brown and there was a multi-brown fur-lined up at the foot of the couches and chair. There was no fireplace in the room, which struck Tazir as odd as the room seemed rather empty without it, sort of unfinished.

He had not had any time to discipline the Goblins that he had sent out to flank his great-great uncle, aunt and his cousin, as soon as Trivit had been taken out of the area he had been sort of transfixed to one area. An ambulance had arrived, someone had been put in it then it had sped off, he had seen the youth that he and everyone in the camp called Reezal take his first and then secondborn sons to a deep red car then get into the drivers seat and drive off. Three humans had followed behind them and that was when he had decided to head back to camp to deal with his Goblins. He knew not a thing of what had happened, he had asked Homsi what he had meant by the fifty Goblins you've assigned for the plan have turned and started fighting Mistress Angel and her sons and when he had gotten no response he had teleported in to find out what the hell was going on. His plan had gone up in shambles, the ones he had assigned to be a part of his plan had gone against his orders and had looked to be attacking his wife and sons, Homsi looked to be defending his wife and sons and looked as if he was about to be sent on a one-way trip to forever sleep land and Trobrencus had been pacing back and forth on his side of the shield, looking pretty damn beaten up while Trivit had been fighting Reezal. He had given his general a quick disciplining and had planned on teleporting in, grabbing the Goblin-man by the collar of his green army jacket then giving him a good shake while demanding answers as to what had happened. His further disciplining plan had not gone as he had hoped, as soon as he had teleported in and had grabbed at his general, who had shrank back from him in fear, he had been approached by one of his great-great uncle's staff who had said that Trobrencus wanted to see him. It must be pretty damn important because his nephew had been called in as well. Tazir loosened the collar of his black, wool overcoat then stepped forward.

"I do hope that you plan on giving them boys of yours a good kick in the ass for what they did!" TrobrencusVile's silence was broken. "Look at what they done! Look at my wife! My son!"

"Look at my husband!" Bahne cried.

"What happened? The signal went out when word was received that you had my wife and was bringing her out of the shield." TazirVile asked.

"I'm not surprised, them damn Goblins just stood by and watched us fight as-..." TrivitVile held his hand up, ducked his head nearly into the bucket that was near full of worms, blood and slugs and vomited up a long strand of coiled up worms that was coated in dark red blood.

"The only ones that did anything was them two that were in the store before I went in." Bahne said. "They dealt with Hazaar and Lhaklar while Bile was fighting my husband and that other guy was fighting Trivit."

"When did the boys come in?" TazirVile asked, he felt as if he was about to explode with this new piece of information.

"Just after I reached over to touch your Ragamuffin's arm to get her walking." TrobrencusVile replied. "The boys were just standing there, the near invisible cloak that we had around us that was the fog and snow dri-..."

"We was ambushed!" Bahne yelled. "Don't you sugar coat it, Trob! One of them boys used their Elemental Powers to make the snow and fog drift away then they attacked."

"They were w-..." TrivitVile ducked his head into the bucket and chucked up a large slug, groaned and nearly began to cry then got control of himself. "They were waiting for us, someone told them or one of them was around c-..." TrivitVile puked up a wad of worms coated in red slime, shook violently then looked up over the rim of the bucket. "They knew... they fuckin' knew!"

Just as Tazir exploded and Master Vile was about to after TrobrencusVile had spilled the beans on Bile having, putting on and then fighting with a pair of bronze knuckles and Lhaklar having in his position that he had used against numerous Goblins, Bahne and TrobrencusVile a set of stainless steel, near five inches long and very sharp finger knives, the ambulance that had Angel and Bile in it and the Buick Lucerne that Lazeer had driven that had he, Hazaar and Lhaklar in it pulled up at the emergency entrance to Green River Hospital. Bile was drifting in and out of consciousness and he claimed that his ribs, stomach and hands hurt him, Angel followed behind the stretcher that had her firstborn on it to the door of the hospital then turned and went back for Lhaklar, who was now having problems walking as his legs were very shaky and he felt very light-headed. She helped him into the hospital while Lazeer swung Hazaar's arm around his shoulders then walked him in behind them. Even though her fourthborn son claimed he felt fine, Angel signed all four of her sons in, showed her insurance card and information, gave the phone number to the apartment and her cellular number then she stepped back as three of her four sons were told to sit in wheelchairs then wheeled to rooms to be examined and then treated for whatever injuries that they had. Just as Angel was asking if she could be at Bile's side, Christie, Charles and Becky walked into the hospital.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but at the moment it's best that the doctors be allowed to do what they've been trained to do alone." the receptionist replied to Angel's question. "The doctors will tell you what all they were able to do and what's going on soon."

"Guess that means we have to sit and wait." Christie said.

"Did you sign all of them in or just Bile and Lhaklar?" Becky asked.

"All of them, that was a furious fight and they were all involved. All of my boys will be checked over and kept overnight if I say so." Angel replied, she then walked towards the waiting room and took up a seat near the entrance.

After hearing that his son had been carrying a dangerous weapon that he had used against not one but two family members and then had also used it against the Goblins in his army, he had exploded and had had to be moved to a vacant room in his great-great uncle's ship. Trivit had gone on to the bathroom, he had detected him yelling in fright and then he had heard a door slam, he guessed that Trivit had gone to the room that was assigned to him on his father's ship. The young man really was having it rough with the spitting up of slugs, worms and blood, he had nearly broke down several times during his father's explaining of what had happened. His mother had broken down twice then had walked off, saying that she had better things to do than sit in a room with men who fathered such slew that attacked and harmed their family. Trobrencus had been a mess, soon after explaining everything he had started coughing. Great amounts of blood had come out from his mouth then he had nearly dropped to one knee, he had just gotten back in the room when that had happened and he had reacted in the same fashion as his nephew. He and Vile had rushed over to Trobrencus, had grabbed an arm then had escorted the man to the bedroom chamber where he and his wife slept and did their activities in on his ship. He and his nephew watched as the man was tended to by his personal physician, given a horrid medication that had smelled something awful and looked as if it had a horrible taste to it then told to stay in bed for a while. Just as TrobrencusVile's personal physician left the room, his daughter's walked in.

"Six of my Treasures," TrobrencusVile said. "come here. Come see daddy."

"Is it as bad as we heard, daddy?" DananVile asked.

"Just a bit busted and broken, nothing to worry yourself over." TrobrencusVile replied. "Badly bruised ribs and some internal bleeding that's been stopped."

"Daddy! Bile did that to you? He fought you so hard you got-..." DananVile looked about to cry.

TrobrencusVile reached up and pushed the lock of hair that had fallen into his oldest daughter's face then placed his hand on the side of her face. His oldest daughter had inherited a lot of her mother's physical appearance. She had cream colored hair, which was curled at the moment, and an hour-glass shaped body. The only thing that she had inherited from him were his eyes, the irises in her eyes were a light red color while the sclera around them and the pupils were white, she had no ring on her finger as she wasn't married and had never married and she had an hour-glass shaped body just like her mother. She was wearing a light green embroidered, spaghetti strapped dress and light green heels, around her neck hung a green needle lace necklace, she had a matching bracelet on her left wrist. TrobrencusVile gave his oldest daughter a light pat on her cheek then dropped his arm. Not all offspring had to look like the father or mother, some came out looking like a combination of their parents and, sometimes, they came out looking like their grandparents. He had done no paternity tests on his children, he had no reason to as Bahne and he were as thick as could be and he knew she'd not even cheat on him.

"I'll be fine, have had much worse done to me." TrobrencusVile said to his oldest daughter. "Had all ribs broken, an arm broken and then my knee nearly busted to bits in my last conquest. Remember that?"

"I do, mom forced you to stay in bed for a month and then she refused to let you out of a chair when you got out of bed afterwards." DananVile replied.

"A mid-teenaged boy bruised your ribs and caused internal bleeding?" DazassVile asked in disbelief.

"Bile, as surprising as it sounds, has one hell of a strong body on him but I presume he is having his issues as well. Fought him right hard." TrobrencusVile answered his secondborn daughter who looked like a complete twin of his wife except that she was two inches taller.

"I hope he gets taught a lesson when he gets caught!" BenociVile exclaimed angrily. "There was no reason for him attacking you!"

"True, no reason but I suspect that we headed into an ambush. They had to of known otherwise they would not of been there." TrobrencusVile replied. "Wasn't just Bile, dearie, Lhaklar got me good with them finger knives of his."

"Both will be severely punished when they're caught, don't you worry on that." TazirVile said.

While DazassVile had come out having a flake of flesh that was differently colored and with having the left side of her face and body being a green color while the right side of her face and body being a cream color, his wife had not won out on one of their twin daughter's genetic make-up. BenociVile, or Beenie as he and his family called her, had come out looking like him. She had long hair which was uniquely split in color, the hair on her left side of her head was purple while the hair on her right side of her head was a dark creamy color. Her face was shaped like his, she had light purple irises but the sclera and pupils were red, her nails were long and she had a few flakes of flesh on her face that were dark red, there was one loosely flapping piece of flesh on her left arm and that was it. She stood at a five foot, six inches in height. She was wearing a pair of black slacks, black boots were on her feet and she had an open topped blouse on that had a ruffled collar. She wore no make-up, she had no jewelry on except for the wedding ring that her husband had given her and was a right pretty girl and, unlike her twin sister, she was rather shy.

"Bile will be getting double," Master Vile spoke angrily. "one disciplining from him and another from me. We won't let him get away with this."

"You're his biological father, right?" CelobraVile asked.

"Yes, he's his adoptive and stepfather." Master Vile replied.

CelobraVile, or Celie as he and his family all called her, was a lovely girl who had her mother's fine looks. She had long, curly creamy colored hair that had two strands dyed purple, a heart-shaped face and thin lips that she had colored purple with lipstick. Her eyes were a bright blue, she had purple eyeshadow around them and black mascara on her eyelashes. She had no flakes of flesh on her or flappy skin, she had totally gotten her physical appearance from his wife. The second of his twin daughter's had had it rough in life, he had had to send away several abusive suitors, two fiancées who had abused her and then had sat her husband down right after the man had proposed and had given him the talk. Pagnyar Palus, his daughter's husband, was a good man who treated his daughter well and he was glad for that as, if he had heard a peep of abuse from his daughter or anyone in regards to him he would have thrown him out on whatever ass he had left on his body and told him to not ever come back. Besides the abusive relationships, Celie had also had three children. The first of her children she lost though a miscarriage while the second had had to be removed to ensure his daughter's health as the child was draining his daughter of everything and had made her very ill. Her third and only child, SyamsinVile Palus, had been born fully healthy and they were all glad for that. She had not had any other children since due to getting her tubes tied to further ensure that she'd stay healthy.

"Until you two get them kids of Angel's under control," CelobraVile gave TazirVile and Master Vile a serious look. "I'm not allowing Syam so much as a foot near them and I suggest the same for Tralisa, Fleebe, Bohir, Impub and Varaxcan."

"No child of mine in this ship and camp will be allowed near them until they've tamed down and done a formal apologee towards us." TrobrencusVile said. "Speaking of Fleebe, Impub and Varaxcan," TrobrencusVile leaned slightly over and looked at the second of his youngest daughters. "you, come here. Celie, be the dear, evilly sweet thing you are and bring Impub and Bohir in here for me."

Master Vile moved to the side, he allowed for the woman who was his cousin to walk by. It wasn't Celobra who brought in Impub and Bohir, Celobra came in with Bohir following behind her and following directly behind him was Bahne who had Impub following behind her. FleebeVile and Bohir sat down together, Varaxcan, who was a young four hundred and sixty-three years old, was lifted up and placed near her father's feet while Impub sat on the opposite side of Varaxcan. Besides TrivitVile, the entire family was now in one room and was now surrounding the head of the family, TrobrencusVile Bolym Surfeit. The mood in the room said one thing, it said how close the family was and Master Vile felt a sort of jealous energy by it. Here was a man who had never had to worry about his children being disobedient and running off, here was a man who had a wife who had given him ten children and who loved and cherished him. The man had never had to chase after one of his daughters, had had that daughter harm family members and then birth out and raise a son by him who had repeated his mother's actions against the family and the man had never had to experience the pain of having his wife be stolen by another man, father children by that man and then have that man become like a father figure towards the child that he and his wife had created. He decided at the moment in time to head elsewhere in the camp. He excused himself then left the room and then, a little later on, the ship.

"What's his problem, daddy?" FleebeVile asked after her cousin had left the room.

"Has better things to do then stand around." TrobrencusVile replied to his second youngest daughter's question. "Has to prepare for when Bile is caught, for when Lhaklar, Hazaar and that other kid is caught and for when Angel is caught."

"He's a right weird man, dad." BohirVile said on Master Vile.

TrobrencusVile leaned up then ran his hand through FleebeVile's hair. His second youngest daughter had come out looking like a combination of him and his wife, she had red and purple flecks of flesh on her cheeks, forehead and neck and she had trails of red underneath her eyes that were a light yellow with red pupils. She had gotten her hair from him, it was waved gently and, although it was a light purple color, he knew that she had gotten her hair color from him. She was wearing a royal blue dress that had a pleated sleeve that draped cleverly over the bodice, giving the dress a figure flattering look, there were royal blue heeled boots on her feet. Around her left wrist was a multi-blue beaded bracelet while, hanging down from around her neck was an Alloy with blue Rhinestone and diamond necklace. Fleebe lunged at him and gave him a warm hug before backing off, his young, mid-teenaged daughter had started experimenting with perfume as of the past few years and he detected the scent of Vanilla and Apricot on her.

He took three deep breaths then sat up in bed just long enough to pick up his youngest daughter then grab his youngest son. All of his children were special to him and he didn't want to have one receive more attention than another. The youngster that he had in his arms was a surprise child for him and his wife, he had not been interested in intercourse on the night of Varaxcan's conception, his wife had pushed several buttons, had led him to the bathroom that was in their bedroom chamber at home in their castle and had given him a bath. She had rubbed him all over, getting him antsy and then it had happened, Varaxcan had been said to be in her womb two months later. Impub, who had his arms around him and was giving him a hug, had been conceived naturally, in their bed although in the morning instead of at night. ImpubVile looked very much like him only he had full green eyes and a pug-like nose, so unlike his which slightly curled up and was trim. TrobrencusVile, who had nearly forgotten that TazirVile was still on his ship, looked up sharply at the man that was standing just inside the chamber that he and his wife slept in at night. TazirVile took one look at the man's face, nodded his head then turned and left. He passed by TralisaVile Veonim, TrobrencusVile and Bahne's granddaughter by BenociVile and her husband, Qepax Veonim, and then SyamsinVile Palus, TrobrencusVile and Bahne's grandson bu CelobraVile and her husband, Pagnyar Palus. TazirVile, who had not bothered taking his black, wool overcoat the entire time that he had been in his great-great uncle's ship, stepped out from TrobrencusVile's ship then went directly across camp to where the fifty Goblins stood that he had assigned to be with his great-great uncle when he and his wife and son had gone into the shield to get his Universal Wife.

"Mrs. Vile?" a short, brown-haired doctor that had a blue doctor's outfit asked upon coming into the waiting room. "Is there a Mrs. Vile in the room?"

"I take it you are asking for the mother of Bile Vile," Angel said as she stood up behind the doctor.

"I am, yes. Are you Mrs. V-..."

"Irene, Miss. Angel Irene." Angel said. "I'm Bile Vile's mother, same for Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer Surfeit."

"That was who I was coming in for," another doctor, a gray-haired man who had steely gray eyes and a pencil-thin beard, said upon coming into the room. "come with us please."

"How're my sons?" Angel asked as she followed to two doctor's out of the waiting room and down the hallway towards the rooms where her sons had been put in.

What the two doctor's had to say about her four sons made her feel almost feather-light and she nearly lost her strengths. Bile was fine, there were no internal injuries, such as internal bleeding or broken bones. Bile was only suffering the effects of having struck his head on a hub cap and his hands were bloody from the fight and were starting to hurt him. Lhaklar was just suffering the after effects of the fight as was Hazaar. Lazeer was fine, the doctor that had checked him said that he'd need a good nights sleep and that was all, there was nothing else that the hospital could do for her sons so she signed them out then helped each out of the building, into her car then drove out of the hospitals parking lot heading towards home. Charles, in his silver and yellow VW Bug that had blue-tinted windows and double exhausts on the back fender, Becky, in her DX vehicle that had two wheels on the front and one on the back and four exhausts underneath the back fender, and Christie, in her Supersonic SUV that's tires were hidden behind a piece of fiberglass that was colored to look like speakers, followed behind her as she took her sons home. It took a full hour of driving before they all pulled up in the drive way of the apartment where Angel and her sons lived, right after taking the key out from the ignition Angel turned around and looked at her four sons who had been very quiet for the entire drive back home.

"Where'd you get the knuckles, Bile?" she asked her oldest son.

"Downtown, ma." Bile looked down at his folded hands, his long, dark yellow fingernails tapped up against his flesh once before going still. "From the pawn shop in downtown."

"And you, Lhaklar." Angel looked over at her secondborn son. "Where'd you get the finger knives?"

"On Viro, mom. When you and I separated for only five minutes. I saw them in a store and liked them enough to buy." Lhaklar replied.

"How much did you spend on them, Lhaklar?"

"Fifty,"

"And how much did you spend on the knuckles?" Angel asked her firstborn son.

"Twenty, each." Bile replied.

"I suppose that since neither of you have hurt yourselves with them I'll let you keep them and," Angel looked at Lhaklar specifically as she said the rest of what she had to say. "since you both know how to use them wisely. How'd you four know I was heading into trouble?"

"After your cellular cut off in mid-conversation with Bile and we couldn't reach you afterwards." Hazaar replied. "We called Charles, the store and then your cellular number several times and didn't get a reply and w-..."

"We got worried and decided to drive up to your workplace and see what was up." Lazeer said, jumping into the conversation and cutting his older brother off in the process.

"Glad you did, think you taught them a very important lesson." Angel said, she then opened the door on her side. "Alright, everyone out of the car and head inside. All of you are grounded for a full twelve hours. Sleep, build your models, read or whatever."

"Take it real easy, in other words." Bile said as he got out of his mother's car.

"Right," Angel said. "take it easy."

As Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer walked up tp, then into and then went to the closet to put their winter clothing away, TazirVile was walking into his older brother's ship. The first person he saw was his sister-in-law, Irka looked at him then walked on, going to wherever she had been heading to before stopping to give a sort of acknowledgement to his presence. That was another thing that he had never had to complain about with his Universal Wife, if he so much as walked by she'd acknowledge him by giving him an affectionate hug, say a sweet saying or she'd give him a light slap on the bum, he never had to think of the cold, acknowledging stares or the no words as he was seen walking by, his family acted like he was only there when they wanted him to be there. As it was, his brother had only asked for him to enter his ship to speak on the kid that they had not yet identified, the one that they were calling by the name that Angel had signed in on the sign-in sheet in Goggles For All on Zeta Ren. He didn't have to go far to find his brother, Kuruk was seated in the living room that was in his ship. Before he could say his brother's name, Baruk teleported in.

"You did as I told you to?" KurukVile saw that his younger brother had walked in but he held his hand up to keep him at bay for a few seconds more. He had matters, important matters, to tend with his thirdborn son. "Gutters, roof, grass in the back was cut?"

"Yes dad." Baruk replied.

"Five stacks of wood piled up, horses fed, produce tended to?"

"Yes dad." Baruk replied a bit too miserably.

"Picked up the mail?"

"Right here," Baruk handed his father the mail from the past week.

"How about the pets?" KurukVile asked his son, he eyed his son as only a father would who is looking for the telltale signs of one lying.

"I fed all but Gahzie, I couldn't find her." Baruk said.

"Did you check the kennels for her?"

"Yes, dad. I checked the kennels, the barn and all the rooms at home. I couldn't find her."

"I should send you home to look again, Gahzie's pregnant with her second litter. I don't need to tell you how valuable an animal she is." KurukVile said, he lifted up a gold chalice that had rubies all around the rim from a dark brown side table that had a red, bubbly drink in it. "You're dismissed, after a months worth of house chores I should think that you have learned your lesson. Next time you get double, and not just the chores. Here me boy?"

"Yes dad."

"Good, now leave me to talk with your uncle." KurukVile said.

All he knew was that his young nephew had been disciplined hard for his attack on Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar a month earlier, he had had no idea that the youngster had been grounded and given a hefty load of house chores as well. TazirVile wouldn't have his sons tending his pets, he had fish and bats back home in his mansion on Moas that only he and three other Goblins in his service tended to, his pets were his responsibility, he'd not find himself grounding his kids then saying for them to tend his pets. Maybe work around the house, maybe even work out in the yard. He might give his sons the chore of mucking out the entirety of his stables, from top to bottom, tend the sheep and goats and then do whatever chores he, or his beloved wife, had thought up for them to do afterwards. He also couldn't see himself giving the order for one of his disobedient sons to clear the gutters, standing on a ladder could be tricky and he did not want one of his sons to risk breaking a limb or worse, his back or neck. He walked forward after his brother gestured for him to take a seat.

As he took a seat on a light brown couch that had seats for two which had a light gray wolves pelt on the back, Tazir took in the room. It had been remodeled, completely redone a few hundred years earlier and this was his first time getting a look at it. His brother was one of them manly types, he liked for some of his rooms to be decorated to suit his manliness while he allowed for his wife to have a few rooms to decorate and do what she pleased with. A full dark brown fur carpet was on the floor, the walls were light brown with the ceiling being a lighter brown. His brother was seated on a brown leather chair that had an ottoman, there was a light brown pelt placed across the back of the chair that he was seated on and there was also a light brown pelt placed across the top of the ottoman. The shelf that ran on one side of the room was one of the remaining items that his brother had left be, he had several of his hunting trophies on it. There was a small and very finely polished Crocodile skull on the bottom shelf, a bear and bear cub skull was above that with a skull of an animal that had twisted horns on its head between them. Mounted above them on the wall was a huge skull that his brother had collected after hunting on Earth one day, the antlers of the beast splayed out sideways and looked rather menacing yet they were right fragile.

On a black glass table sat a phone, this was another original piece to the room. The phones handle was that of a femur phone and was a nice, polished black, the ear and mouth parts were claws and were red and right shiny, the cord between the handset and the main part was black while the main part of the phone was a skull that was black, there were large fangs and sharp teeth on the mouth part of the skull that were white except for the tips which were red. There was a trickle of blood painted on the lower jaw. Another original piece to the room was the portrait that was mounted up on the wall behind his brother. The portrait was of his brother and sister-in-law, the artist had captured each and every detail of the two, the muscle, look in the eyes, even the mood between the two. Kuruk had his wife in his arms and they were smiling. That was the last of the original pieces in the room, the rest had been redone. A fireplace, a stone fireplace, had been added to the room during th remodeling which gave the room a sort of overstuffed feel to it. Hanging down from the ceiling was a Pterodactyl skeleton that his brother had gotten an artist to make, candles hung down from the bones and were lit so the Pterodactyl skeleton acted as a sort of chandelier. Even this gave the room the overstuffed feeling. His brother took one more sip from his gold chalice then placed it down on the black glass table beside his chair.

"First time you've been in my ship since it was remodeled, right?" his brother asked him.

"Mhmmm, yes." TazirVile replied.

"My wife's not yet comfortable with it, she and the kids are slowly getting use to it." his brother said.

"You added a fireplace I see." TazirVile said.

"Yes, but my most favorite piece in this room, beside the portrait of me and my wife, is the chandelier." KurukVile looked up at the Pterodactyl skeleton that had candles hanging down from the bones. "Was Angel who brought my attention to that animal. Built rather delicately but damn if they aren't dangerous beasts."

"Yes, she told you of the Pterodactyl just after she told me of the Nemicolopterus. Had a reconstruction done on that animal, still in my chamber."

"Mmmm, what you just saw with my disciplining of my son you should jog down in your memory banks. Children, especially teenagers, will walk all over you if you let them." his brother changed the subject like flicking a light switch from off to on quickly. "Bile's going to be one who'll need a lot of discipline if he's to become any sort of conqueror or decent man. Same for Lhaklar. What are your plans for that other kid?"

"I'm not separating him from Angel or the boys. He'll come along with when they're captured." TazirVile replied quickly.

"I'd do some good thinking on him before you do that. Did you check the records at Pronghorn on him?" KurukVile asked.

"No, just on Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar."

"I'd head to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and do another search. That Reezal kid knew quite a lot of spells and attacks that are taught at that school not to mention he also knows how to use a wand very well." KurukVile said, he then reached down and grabbed his chalice. He took a drink from it then placed it back down on the table beside him. "Baruk is now free to do as he pleases, his grounding is finished. I'll keep my eye on him, but... if he does get in a fight with the boys again I might just let him fight. Might teach them boys a lesson in who not to mess with, especially Bile. Bile gives me the impression that since he is big that he is all that and a bag of chips. Do you see Baruk acting in that way, Brother?"

As he left his older brother's ship he thought hard on the last question that he had been asked. Did Baruk go around acting like he was all that and a bag of chips because of his size? Well, he could honestly say that the youngster who was his nephew did act rather high on himself at times. He did lift things that he shouldn't, he did spark fights with others and he was a sort of bad influence. Bohir, for example, he had been told that he was a right good kid, very respectful but as of the past few months he had begun to run his mouth and get into more trouble than he usually did. Gaajah did seem to follow after Baruk quite a lot whenever they were outside of the ships, he had seen Gaajah actually trying to copy Baruk in picking up a heavy log a few weeks earlier and he couldn't be sure but he thought he had heard Baruk call his younger brother, Gaajah, a weakling for not being able to do it. Granted, he didn't know Bile much now in how he lived his life other than being a smoker and being right big in size for his age but he did believe that Bile was better than Baruk, Gaajah and Bohir put together. TazirVile walked up to his younger half-brothers, Efagti and Amadh, the last outing to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic had brought up nothing and the reason for that was because his nephew, Vile, had rushed him and his grandfather. They had found nothing because Vile had said he wanted to be back on Earth and fast, his claim was because he didn't want to miss seeing his son but Tazir really thought that the man had someone else that he was hurrying them along. Thrax had become his nephew's whole world since his birth, he had not heard much from his nephew after his nephew's grandson had been born and when he had spoken to him the young son of his eldest daughter, Rita Repulsa Vile, had always been thrust into the conversation. Vile had been proud, he had been excited to be a grandfather and that had struck a cord with him because here were three children born through his secondborn daughter, Angel Irene, that were also, technically, his grandsons as well and yet, he had not spent a speck of time with them or had said a word to them up to the dinner where his two just captured sons, Lhaklar and Hazaar, had been brought to. TazirVile pushed the thought to the side, if he was going to head to his old school, Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, he'd have to have his mind focused on one thing and that was in finding information on his sons.

"I'm heading to Pronghorn," TazirVile said as he stopped in front of Efagti and Amadh, his neighbor, Gloar, had just walked up and had looked up when he had spoken. "I need some extra eyes and someone who isn't interested in moving things along quickly. Either of you interested in helping me out?"

"I'm interested," Gloar said. "anything to help out I'll do."

"Same here," Efagti said.

"I'd love to but pop says I need to head home to help him tend to matters with the animals and produce." Amadh sighed. "Maybe next time."

"Good luck, watch the Almas when you shear them. Worse than the sheep, they kick something fierce!" Efagti said.

"Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. "Amadh said as he stepped back. "Same to you, hope you find something."

"Same here," TazirVile said, he then teleported with a triple gold flash to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. Efagti teleported behind him with a warping effect while Gloar teleported with a distortion effect.


	26. Chapter 26

"You got that b-..." Bile stopped short after he had entered the kitchen, when he had seen the blue binder on the kitchen table he had automatically thought it had belonged to Lhaklar but he wasn't in the room. One of his younger brothers was in the room and it was he who had the binder propped open on his lap. "You now?"

"Lhaklar's not the only one who has been clipping out articles on us from newspapers." Hazaar replied. "He has one now too, don't know where he went but after he clipped out an article from one of the duplicate papers that we got this morning he ran off."

"There was an article of us in the paper?" Bile asked.

"Yep, apparently the man who created me, Lhaklar and Lazeer went back to Pronghorn to do another search for our records and found them." Hazaar replied.

"All of them or-..."

"He has each and every one of our records now," Hazaar looked up and locked his large, oval and slightly slanted deep purple eyes with Bile's glowing yellow-green eyes that had black pupils in the center. "He changed each one last night, put our real names on the forms and he found the records that you and Lhaklar made while you two were running track and Lazeer's records from his Mechanics class and-..." Hazaar looked down for a second then looked up and locked his eyes with his older brother's again. "your, my and Lazeer's detention records."

He cringed at the mention of the finding of his detention record. He had gotten detention only once when he had been a student at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and that was for losing his temper and firing a fireball at a student that had been hounding him like crazy after he had broken the two-mile record that had been made by a RosolVile Surfeit some many thousands of years ago. The kid had wanted to know how he got his speed and endurance and had just been such a pest that he couldn't so much as take a piss without having him at his elbow. That was annoying, he had enjoyed running the track meets quite a lot but the publicity from the kids at the school he just plain hated. Some were respectful, some were not. The kid, a Gusneo Blokni, had come up to him three days after he had broken the two-mile record, setting it at a nice 2:36:34 which, to his knowledge, still stood to that day, and had started hounding him with his questions during lunch hour. He had been with Lhaklar, they had eaten together, as they always had, and when the kid had seen his brother he had insulted him and had asked why he, a record-breaker, would want to hang out with someone who looked no more faster than a slug. He had exploded and had swung his fist, the kid had ducked out of the way so he hadn't been hurt. A trashcan had exploded though and that had caught the wall that it was up against and the ceiling above it to catch fire and burn.

Lhaklar had run track as well, had done some good runs, but since he had been the one breaking the records he had gotten all of the lime light. Lhaklar had run slow at first, due to his height his legs had gotten in the way and had slowed him up but once he untangled them legs he just breezed on like a bullet. TazirVile Surfeit, Bile's adopted father and Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer's biological father, had been clocked a few times at going a mile in 3:05:59... Lhaklar had been clocked five times at going 3:02:56 for a mile, had he of not been so prematurely tall he would have been able to go faster. Hazaar hadn't gone out for track, he had had no interest but he had gotten an interest in music and had done that class instead. He had been in the schools band and had played a mean trumpet and he had also been given the flute to play as well which he said he hated. Lazeer, due to not being able to go outside when the sun was out because of his eye, had not run track or had done any sort of outdoor activities. Instead, he had enrolled in a Mechanics class and had been damn good in it, the same as with his other classes. Bile was alright with his adoptive father having and changing the name on his records... he was uncomfortable with his adoptive father having his single detention record though. His mother had sent him a Screamer, a letter that one typically wrote by mouth and the letters were always said with an angered tone. His mother had really gotten on him hard for damaging a portion of the wall and ceiling in the boy's bathroom after he had exploded after Gusneo Blokni had insulted his brother, she had had to pay for the damages and for a new trashcan as well, why on the latter he had no idea as the thing only cost like... ten or twelve dollars. The school should have just left it at his mother paying for the damages to the wall and ceiling, her paying for a new trashcan was just adding insult to injury. Bile was heading towards the fridge to get a snack when he stopped cold in his tracks, how did his younger brother know that his adopted father had his one detention record?

"Please don't tell me that in that article it mentions my detention record." Bile said, he had turned around and was looking at his brother in a near begging way.

"The article mentions your detention record, it had a full description of mine and Lazeer's in it." Hazaar replied.

"I have a one way ticket to Alaska." Lazeer said as he walked into the kitchen. "Hazaar and you will be the only one of us detention getters going in the dog-house."

"How'd you get money to get a one way ticket to Alaska?" Bile asked his youngest brother.

"Haven't you seen the news lately? My pretty mug is all over the stations because I robbed a bank earlier this morning then went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and snarfed all your precious chicken and rolls." Lazeer replied.

"You better of left me something after heading to KFC, man." Bile said. "I have been craving... CRAVING a chicken leg from that place."

"Go there and get one then." Hazaar said, he felt his temper take hold of him and decided to head to the bathroom to fix his hair. "There's several new articles in there, read them if you want."

Bile went to the fridge and opened it, he and his brothers were absolutely, positively not allowed to leave the apartment. Their mother had considered getting one of the neighbors to come and watch them but, after he and his brothers had begged and pleaded for her to not do such a degenerating thing, she had decided against doing that and had, instead, given the order for them to keep their asses inside. They were not allowed to go out to the back yard, they were not allowed to go out in the front yard, this had made for a sticky situation with the smokes but he and his brother had figured out how to do a quick smoke after she had left for work in Ranchester, a town located up north in the county of Sheridan. Charles Binkleton, the manager at the Food Lion where the fight had happened, had transferred her to the Food Lion in Ranchester as a way to protect her from the Goblins and monsters, as it was, the local news had ran a story on what had happened earlier that morning and the store had been closed. It was nearly noon so Bile thought that it was time for an early lunch. He moved a few things to the side that were in the freezer compartment of the fridge then took out a pizza. It was a circular pizza that had the name Tombstone on the package with, right underneath of that, was printed what the pizza was. He was a fan of having sausages, pepperoni's and green peppers on his pizza's and his mother had bought two of them. He took the pizza out its package, placed it on a pizza pan then slid it into the oven after he had preheated it the temperature that the pizza needed to be cooked at. He then went and sat down at the kitchen table, it'd be fifteen minutes before his pizza would be ready to eat so he figured it best to do a little quick reading of the articles that had been written on them that his younger brother had clipped out and had put in his binder.

_Princes of the Vaisha, Andromeda and Bula Galaxies School Records Discovered_

_It seems that the second time was the charm in TazirVile Surfeit's return back to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic to look for his sons school records as, after near five hours of searching, his search proved successful after he and his two companions, Efagti Ubalki, one of his half-brother's born through Ashaklar Zoopray, and Gloar Rovnitov, TazirVile Surfeit's neighbor and good friend, discovered a track record that had been made recently by a student named Elib Eliv. The record, which TazirVile Surfeit's nephew, Vile Vile, or better now know as Master Vile, was set at 2:06:54 for a mile and stood for over eighty thousand years before Elib Eliv broke and reset it to a sizzling 1:48:12 one thousand and one years ago which still stands today. TazirVile Surfeit near discarded the record before his younger half-brother noticed that Elib Eliv was Bile Vile spelled backwards. Soon after that discovery, TazirVile Surfeit and his neighbor and good friend, Gloar Rovnitov, discovered other records made by the youngster. _

_The Surfeit family is one of few that has made several records that have lasted for thousands of years, the record that Master Vile set when he was just barely into his fifth year at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic was tested by many hundreds of thousands of pupils that had gone to the school with none coming close to breaking the record until his son, under the name of Elib Eliv, broke it on his third year at the school. Besides Bile's 2:06:54 record for a mile, his records of 2:00:45 for a mile and a quarter, 2:15:09 for a mile of a half and 2:36:34 for two miles were also found. All records that he broke were placed by members of his own family._

_"My brother, RosolVile Surfeit, shocked many when he set his record of 2:48:54 for the two mile run. He blasted that track when he ran and set that record, he'd be very proud to know that his record was broken and set to a number where no other being could possibly touch it by a member of the family." TrobrencusVile Bolym Surfeit, RosolVile Surfeit's brother, said upon hearing the news that his brother's record had been broken by Bile, his great-great-great-great nephew. TrobrencusVile Surfeit, along with his nephew, ShaamVile Klondike Surfeit, and ShaamVile's young son, DuruVile Bolushi Surfeit, were the only ones that survived Shlock's Plague and are the ones credited in keeping the family alive to the present._

_Master Vile, upon discovery that his own son broke a record he had made over eighty thousand years ago, was floored after he heard how fast his son had been going. Angel Irene, Bile Vile's mother, when she had run track at the school, had been clocked at running a mile at 3:12.54 and, according to her coach at the time, she would have gone much faster if she hadn't of gotten so tall so fast. The mile and a quarter record that Bile Vile had broken had been set by his own grandfather, KurukVile Surfeit, while the record for a mile and a half that Bile Vile had broke had been set by one of his uncle's, TriskullVile Vuupipii Surfeit, when he had gone to the school. Bile Vile, besides running and placing records in his track meets that are being said to be untouchable, was also on the wrestling team at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. He was Wrestling Champion for nearly five years then retired to focus on his studies. The young son of Master Vile had a fine grade point average of 4.1 and had only received one detention while enrolled at the school._

_Also discovered were the records for TazirVile's two sons, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit and HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit. The first search for the records had not been successful because Mr. Surfeit was looking for forms that had the correct spelling of his sons' names on them, he only found the records after getting the idea to search for names such as Ralkahl and Raazah and boy, from reports, his idea paid off in full. His firstborn son, Lhaklar who spelled his name as and went by the name of Ralkahl Uhsolc Tiefrus while at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, also ran track and had some decent clockings but his running times were barely noticed after the records placed by his older half-brother, Bile. Lhaklar's record is clean with no detention records noted and with his grade point average being a decent 3.6. His younger brother's records, on the other hand, show a surprising side to the secondborn son of TazirVile Surfeit._

_HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, who went by the name of Raazah Rialt Tiefrus, had an average grade point average of 3.1 but his detention record is what caught the attention of his father quickly after his records were found. Apparently the secondborn son of TazirVile Surfeit, born through Angel Irene, had a tendency to fight with other students, mouthed off to teachers and causing classroom disruption. In total, HazaarVile Surfeit spent five sessions in detention for his misbehaviors. While Hazaar didn't take track, like his older brother and half-brother, he did take a course in music and was rather good in it, he had also been in the Pronghorn Band for fifty of his two hundred years at the school. _

_"He was a good pupil, just had some issues with controlling his temper." Arkav Lihdrel, HazaarVile Surfeit's Spells and Potions teacher, said when questioned about the young son of TazirVile Surfeit, who he even taught when he had gone to the school. "I actually had three "Tiefrus" students in my class, two at the same time. All were exceptional students, got their work done way before everyone else and also did their potions and spells on the first try, the younger "Tiefrus" boy especially so."_

_TazirVile Surfeit has now broadened his searching to include other schools in the universe to see what other educations his sons have had over the years._

_Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus, Who is He?_

_Along with the finding of Bile Vile, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit and HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit's records at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic there was also the finding of another youth that enrolled at the school a hundred years after Hazaar did. Efagti Ubalki, TazirVile Surfeit's younger half-brother born though Ashaklar Zoopray, is credited with the find of his record and with the finding new questions are being brought to light. TazirVile Surfeit's cousin, TrivitVile Surfeit, the son of TrobrencusVile Bolym Surfeit and Bahne Brotzol, had an encounter with a youth whose had the name Reezal pinned on him ever since he was signed in at Goggles For All, owned by Navub Babusa, by his mother, Angel Irene, under the name of Reezal Bakerly three months before, who showed considerable strengths in wand wielding. It was the Reezal youth who prompted the search of the records at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, soon after finding HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit's school records a record was found with the name of Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus on it._

_Who is Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus and is he important to TazirVile Surfeit's search and is he Reezal Bakerly? Sources say that he is, according to teachers that had the youth in their class three hundred years ago both he and Raazah were blood related and did regard themselves as brothers. Curiously, when one spells the name Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus backwards it becomes Lazeer Zuluduz Surfeit. Angel Irene, about two weeks ago, gave her Universal Husband some clues as to "Reezal's" identity and, from the record discovered at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic it does seem that there might be another son that Mr. Surfeit had yet to capture and question. _

_"If I find that my thirdborn son is alive I'll do cartwheels over the moon and back." TazirVile Surfeit said when told of how the name of Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus was Lazeer Zuluduz Surfeit spelled backwards. _

_Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus had a fine grade point average of 3.8, got excellent grades in all of his classes except for Math which he received a satisfactory grade in and was said to be a naturally gifted student by his teachers. Curiously, though, he has a record for detention which did not get past TazirVile Surfeit. Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus spent twelve sessions in detention for acts such as classroom disruption, causing fights due to the jokes that he was making and saying and for the jokes that he made and said. The student did not go out for track, instead he enrolled in and got an excellent grade in a Mechanics class taught by Olsfiss Octorus. As if custom for all schools, when a student enrolls with a new surname, or a different variety of a particular surname, that student and any siblings that follow, has to go through a DNA mapping exam so that the surname is registered within the Civilian Book. The Tiefrus name was registered after LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit enrolled at the school under the name of Ralkahl Uhsolc Tiefrus and his two brothers were also required to go through the DNA mapping exam. TazirVile Surfeit is currently waiting on the results of the exams in hopes of doing a DNA test to see if Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus is his thirdborn son. _

_Local Food Line Taken Over By Monsters?_

_Local authorities are wondering if the workers at the Food Lion located on Brooks Boulevard were drinking while at work because, after the radios and phone lines went out for near forty minutes, a report was sent to the police station on Oak Street that there was a problem concerned a group of Goblins and two beings that looked similar in appearance to the much publicized Zombies. According to reports, two Zombie-like monsters attacked a woman and her four sons before a group of fifty Goblins rushed in. _

_What is in the water of the town of Green River, Wyoming? Has the population of that town decided to pick up the pranks that were done in Park, Big Horn, Hot Springs, Washakie and Johnson counties about a month and a half ago? Authorities are now not answering calls about the fabled Goblins and Zombie-like monsters in hopes that the thought-to-be prankers will do something better with their time. There is also reports of a camp of monsters set up near the shield that the long-lived and still living heroine, Angel Irene, put up over one thousand years ago. Angel Irene picked our town of Green River to reside three hundred years ago, it's unknown where she is in our cozy, little town but it is known that she does have four sons living with her, all sired by members of the family that she has fought over the years, both for the planet's freedom and for her own._

To one who looked at things through a normal perspective, the bathroom that he was in looked normal. The vinyl use to be a white color and use to have very black diamonds placed in the corners of each vinyl piece but now, due to both use and age, the vinyl had faded in many places and was nearly out underneath the sink, which was a faded tan color. There were several areas around the bowl of the sink that were chipped, there was no cabinet underneath the sink, it was just a full porcelain sink. The toilet they had replaced, the old one was cracked so bad that it couldn't be used so they had gone and gotten a fairly new, white porcelain toilet. The toilet had a plush red, plastic toilet bowl cover, the toilet lid matched that and there was a red rug around the front of the toilet with a matching rug placed in front of the bathtub which was a light tan, had a light red shower curtain that had orange dots on it. There was a cabinet placed on the left side of the mirror that was above the sink, it had wrought iron and painted black, there were five shelves on it that they held all of the items that one would use in a bathroom. The toothpaste, the toilet paper rolls, the bars of soap and shampoo and the towels and wash rags. There was also a little container of powder on the cabinet to make the body soft after a shower, their mother used that, he and his brothers refused to use it as they preferred having the tougher body of a male. On the right side of the mirror there was a medicine cabinet that held all the medicinal items, the Neosporin, antiseptic, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, bandaides, rolls of bandaging and the cold weather medicines like the cough medicine, the cough drops, the Vick's Vapor rub, the Bayer and their mother's Ibuprofen and, of course, the thermometer.

Yes, a normal looking bathroom. The wallpaper was faded in places, rubbed off completely and fragile behind the toilet and the ceiling was a dingy white color which further validated its normalcy and there was a light fixture hanging down from the ceiling that had a white bulb in it that lit the bathroom up fully. The mirror that he was staring at even looked normal... for now. Hazaar reached down to the waist of his pants and took out his wand that he had stuck in the loops of his pants, now the normalcy of the bathroom ended, now it was time to make the bathroom become like something out of a carnival, like one of the mirror rooms where there were mirrors all around and a human was just stumbling by, trying to figure out if there was an opening between the mirrors or seeing themselves distort into weird shapes or sizes.

As he pulled his wand up he remembered when he had gotten it. Right after he had gone through that damn DNA mapping thing that the school had forced him to do he had been marched out of the big castle that was in the center of the school grounds to a shop called Wand Fitters. The lady, an old woman who had hair so long and gray that it almost tripped her up as she walked, had made him and the students that he had joined in the march to the shop stand in a line. She had explained that beginner wands were different than that of wands made specially for the user which cost hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars and wands that had been created by a user. Beginner wands, the old woman had said, would be flying up after she lifted a gray sheet from the counter that had fifty wands on it and that no pupil was to run forward to grab one. The wands were to be left to chose their users, they would fly up, hover for a few seconds then fly forward to the student that they had picked to use them until their life cycle was over, which was only a few thousand years. A straight, light yellow stick that had a crystal ball on the kell from which a tightly woven strand of dark brown leather ran down from had flown at him, it was a good wand and he was rather fond of it.

"Mirror in front of me grow, circle around, wrap around this room but keep your crisp, clear reflection." Hazaar said as he flicked then swung his wand.

The mirror slowly grew out from the sides, it grew all the way to the wall where the bathtub was up against and the wall where the door, that he had locked after entering the bathroom, was placed then it swung around him. Hazaar stayed in place, he said not a word nor did he move. When the distorted mirror stopped growing it had trapped him inside it, he was alright with this, this was how he did his hair. Hazaar then looked down at the floor, he jabbed his wand down and made a section of the vinyl flooring pop up, a box floated up along with two more. He grabbed the boxes, said a spell for them to hover beside him then opened them. His mother gave him an allowance once a week and he used that to restock his kit of beads, feathers and small rubber bands which cost him only $5, the rest he gave to the guy who went into the store in downtown to get him a pack or two of smokes or to buy him his men's magazines, both of the pornographic, hunting and sports, or in him purchasing a new model train or something for his mom.

"BroSis... BroSis... BroSis..." he heard that Eshal girl who he knew was his half-sister say in his ear.

"Shuddup girlie!" he thought angrily.

BroSis? What a friggin' nickname! Did he look anything like a girl? Did he have the chest of a female or the ass or the hips or the bone or musculature structure? That was a big hell no! He was all male, he had a tail of hair growing out from the nape of the back of his head but that didn't make him a girl and neither did him fixing his hair up. Hazaar reached into the box that was floating closer to him, he took out a metal rod then, while looking at the mirror, shoved it through the rat-tail of deep purple hair that came out from the back of his head. He twirled the metal rod three times to collect a good strand of hair then pulled it to the side, he then tightened the strand by twirling the metal rod four more times then he reached down into the same box that he had gotten the metal rod from and took out a yellow bead. He said a spell to make the bead float over the strand of hair that he held then drop down onto then slid down the length of the strand of hair that he had wrapped around the metal rod. He repeated the move four more times before stopping, with the fifth yellow bead in place he grabbed a yellow feather and shoved that through the beads. He then braided that strand of hair, making the braids tight before tying a rubber band on the end of the strand of now beaded, feathered and braided hair that he had just completed. He decided that he wanted two more strands beaded, feathered and braided afterwards and set to work quickly after removing the metal rod carefully from the strand of hair he had just fixed up.

The first box had the most important items that he used to spiff up his hair with. The beads, feathers and the metal rods, he had several that were very thin and long. He made sure to not push the metal rods but so far into his hair, one time he had shoved a metal rod up through his hair and it had nearly punctured the skin of his scalp. The metal rods were to help keep the strands of hair that he picked to be fixed up straight and tidy, he use to use one of them long, wooden chopsticks but had switched soon after to the metal rod as the chopstick had been too big around and they broke easily. He had three containers of beads, red, bright blue and yellow went best with his hair so he always used and bought them colors. He did the same with the feathers, which he had just two boxes of. The third box had the things that he barely used anymore, the dyes and the ribbons. He had decided to experiment with hair color dye a few years before and had bought a tube of red, bright blue, light purple and yellow dye from the local store. He had nearly had a bloomin' heart attack after he had applied the light purple hair color dye to a strand of his hair and, instead of the strand of hair being dyed all of his hair had been dyed. It had taken six washings of his hair just to get it back to its original color and ever since he had never used the dyes again. The ribbons had been another experimental buy and, after he had seen how girlie they had made him look he had never used them again. In the second box, which was very small, he had a comb, a brush and a pair of scissors, he made sure to keep his rat-tail at a length of only four and a half inches, if it got any longer it got an unkept look to it and he didn't like that. My always ran a brush over his rat-tail three times, over the top then sides and back, before grabbing the comb and running that through five times to make sure that no knots had formed while he had been sleeping. He used a gentle shampoo with his rat-tail, a brand called Suave which his mother also used for her hair. He didn't want to risk his hair going dull or being burned so he took after his mother. She did, after all, have hair that was so fiery red that it cast a glow off of the things around her. After he had fixed his hair he did a spell to make the mirror go back to its original state then he put the boxes that had his things in them back underneath the floor. He had just slid his wand back into the loops of his pants when Lhaklar started pounding on the bathroom door.

"What!" Hazaar exclaimed upon opening the bathroom door.

"You keep that up and there'll be problems between you and me." Lhaklar said, he gave his brother a serious look.

"Whatever," Hazaar said. "what do you want?"

"Got plans up here Mr. Snappy or will you be joining your brothers down in the cellar?" Lhaklar asked.

"I have a model train engine that I'm doing and a few new magazines to look at." Hazaar said. "I might mosey on down later on."

His brother walked down the hallway then made a left turn, he went right for the door that went to the cellar. Hazaar had a feeling that Bile was punching on his old, ancient punching bag which Lazeer jokingly called his old sacred sack. Lazeer could be doing a menagerie of things, there were dumbbells down in the cellar, he could be lifting one of them. There was a set of weights that had the numbers 50 and 100 on them, he could be lifting weights or he could just be sitting on the stairs and watching as the older of their brothers made the stuffing and foam fly as he punched at his punching bag. What he had said was true, he did want to get back to painting and building his spooky model train engine and he did want to look at the magazines he had bought before the phones had gone down and they had fought for their mother's safety. Hazaar walked down the hallway to his room, he left the door open and went straight to the corner where his model train engine was placed. He had gotten the bottom part built already, the wheels, axles, pulleys and so on had already been put together, they all just needed to be painted now and he set down to it with the mind of a one who actually built trains for a living.

The Spooktacular Train, comes with moss, ghosts, a skeletal driver if builder wants to have an extra spooky feeling to his model and six bottles of paint. Well, that had been fibbed on the latter. It had come with just three bottles of paint and all three had been very dry, so dry that they couldn't be used. He had taken the box back, had showed that there had only been three bottles of paint included and had showed the state of the paint then had been given six, brand new, bottles of paint and $10 back. The train had cost him $20, the three cars, a passenger, a baggage, and the caboose had cost him $15 each while the box that had had five track pieces and three signs had cost him $10, he had bought the box that had had the track pieces and signs right after getting reimbursed the $10 for the missing paint bottles, the dried paint and the little white lie of the train engine kit not having the skeleton and ghosts in it. The kit had said that it had dark gray, light gray, dark green, white, black and purple paint in it, he had gotten the guy at the register to grab him the same colored bottles of paint after the guy had apologized and had asked if he wanted to be refunded or have the paint replaced and have the missing items given singly. Hazaar pulled the paint brush out of the glass that he had put it in, dried it off real good then dipped it into the bottle of black paint. He wanted the base of the train, both on the engine and on the cars, to be black while the rest of the train he was going to get creative with. He had plans to head out and get some red and brown paint, to make it look like the sides had a rusted look to them, and he was also going to make the track look rusty as well.

The thought of where he was going to put his model train, with the track and signs included, never cross his mind. He could have asked his mother if he could put up some shelves so he could have his model trains set up with the engines and cars placed on the tracks but he had three trains with tracks and that would mean he'd need a lot of shelves to be put up, his brother would not like for his side of the room to be clogged up by his model trains. There was a mutual agreement between he and Lazeer about the way their room was set up. He could have his stuff, his models and stuff, all on his side while Lazeer could have his own models and stuff set up on his side of the room and neither would say a thing about the state of what one side of the room looked like or how cluttered one side of the room was. He didn't make any wishes for a room of his own, he didn't wish that his brother would be moved to the cellar or that one of his brothers would be kicked out, he knew that they could be living in a better residence but he also knew that if they had been their mother and Lhaklar would be in even more stressed. A bigger place means bigger bills and bigger bills means that Lazeer wouldn't get his glass and that would mean that he would be depressed forever. All three he did not want, his little brother might be a pest sometimes but he did love him. He loved his mother greatly, he respected her greatly and didn't want her to be stressed out in any way and he loved his older brother as well. He could take the cooped up living that he was living in because he knew that everyone was happy. A little bigger place would be nice but if it was too big he, and he was sure his brothers would feel this way too, would feel a bit overwhelmed.

Bile and Lhaklar had described to him how his father lived, very extravagantly, his father was very rich and he lived in a big mansion on a large property that had a horse stable, goat and sheep pen and an area where boats and boating equipment was held along with a kennel that was housed in a building near the rocky beach that was included in his father's property. His two older brothers had been raised there for a few hundred years? Lhaklar had been born in that mansion, he knew that, and both he and Bile had ran around on the grounds, had played, had rough housed, had made problems happen and so on while being there? Was his father one of them rich snobs who only let others look at his stuff, others including his own children, or was he a nice, rich person? His mother had said that his father was a nice man, did that mean that he was decent and not a snob? He was afraid to ask those questions and he felt a tinge of fear towards the man. His thinking had taken all of an hour, in that time he had fully painted the base of his train. Hazaar put the paint brush in the glass that had the chemicals to make the paint wash off of the bristles then got up and went to his bed. He had been careful all the while in painting the base of his train, he had not a speck of paint on his hands so he didn't need to head to the bathroom to wash up. He'd let the paint dry before heading on to building a section of the engine, in the meantime he'd read the new magazine that the guy he payed to get him cigarettes and magazines had gotten him. It was the November issue of Hustler that he grabbed from his cubby just underneath the mattress of his bed, a magazine that had been started in 1974 by a Larry Flynt and had surpassed the Playboy magazine for its explicity.

"We should really think about getting ma something pretty," Bile said as he punched his ancient punching bag. "Good things in the Flea Market, cheap but damn fine and-..."

"She said for us to stay here." Lhaklar said.

"Didn't say we're dropping ball and heading out now," Bile said. "give it a few days, let things settle down then go out."

"Mom would want us to stay home for a few days," Lhaklar said. "a week at best."

"What would you suggest we get for her?" Lazeer asked. "A dress or something?"

"That's nice and all but what I think she needs is some jewelry." Bile said. "A red or blue or even purple dress with matching jewelry. What do you two think?"

"Sounds nice and all but with them near the shield we really do need to listen to mom and stay home." Lhaklar said. "She'd appreciate it more if we obeyed her."

The cellar wasn't really small by any means, it was rather big and spacious and, since their mother had rigged up a lighting fixture in the center and since Bile had added some torches that he had made himself the room was very well lit. Bile had a knack for making torches, or anything medieval which Lazeer thought was cool. The torches, three on one wall and three on the wall across from him, were made of iron that had been burned then bent around to make a cone. Bile had burned the cone to give it that old feeling then he had grabbed a piece of tubing and had glued it around the cone to give it a unique feeling. His older brother had next made a crystal by making some water freeze then saying a spell to keep it frozen and, to make the sphere pulsate in more than one color, his brother had done the Pulseren spell, a spell to make the spheres pulsate by one simply clapping his or her hands. Bile's old, ancient-looking punching bag had been chained up in the center of the cellar by a thick chain, his brother had found the old thing at the dump and had decided to bring it home, fix it up then put it up. The entire thing was gray because it had been fully wrapped up in duck tape, the stuffing and foam had been hanging out of many holes when it had been found and his brother had stuffed all of that back in then had taped the hole bag up to keep it in. He had had to replace the foam and stuffing twice due to both being rain rotted and the bag getting a smell to it, not to mention that whenever he had thrown a punch at it it had looked like a worn out pillow afterwards.

There was a bench near him that had a bar held up by some arms, the bench his brother had found at the dump. It had been missing everything but one, small strip of wood, his brother had fixed it up nicely so it looked like new and he had added it to the cellar after explaining that he was heading back to the dump to look for some tossed weights. He had added the arms, two metal things that stuck up from the wooden floor of the cellar, soon after putting the bench down in the room then he had gone back to the dump for more "junk checking", as Lhaklar called it. Lhaklar had said that he wished that Bile would stop bringing in all the junk from the dump into their house once at the table, he had done the daddy thing in trying to talk some sense into Bile but that had not worked. Bile had gone back to the dump, had rummaged around then had found a steel bar and two, 50 pound weights. He had come home with his just discovered treasures, had heard more of Lhaklar's "trying to be the man of the house" talk then he had gone back to the dump for more shopping. He had come back with two, 100 pound weights and a large, brown leather bag which he had fixed up for their mother. Their mother had loved the bag, she had said that it was one of them old Italian leather bags made by some human named Marco Buggiani, soon after his brother had come back with the weights and the bag he had gone back for more shopping. He had taken him along with him and together they had found eight dumbbells, two that were 5 pound, two that were 10 pound, two that were 20 pound, a 15 pound and a 30 pound and he had found some items for both his side of the room, for Lhaklar and for their mother as well.

The trip after that one they all had gone, Bile, he, Hazaar and Lhaklar and the pickings had been so great that they had come back with enough stuff to keep their mother damn happy for a long while. He had found her two dresses, a red dress that had a ruched bodice with asymmetrical keyhole opening, single shoulder strap and low-cut open back with beaded back straps and a purple dress that had a closed front and long sleeves, that she had been thrilled with and he had also found her a Art Nouveau leather and silver plated coin purse that had a burnished cicada bug on the front. The things humans throw out! His mother had been ecstatic when he had given her the coin purse while they were all seated at the table, eating a late supper. He and his brothers went to the dump once a week and they would always have something to bring back afterwards.

"Why don't we head to the dump and find something for her there?" Lazeer suggested, Bile turned his head to the side and looked at him. "You know, like how you found her that leather bag. Good stuff there."

"Place has good things but the place doesn't have any jeweled items." Bile replied. "Ma needs something new or something like new that doesn't need to be cleaned before it's given to her."

"How about the Thrift Store then? They sell jeweled items for cheap and-..."

"Not good enough, I'm talking about something that'll really make her eyes go pop." Bile said. "Something shiny, pretty and something that'll make the humans around her go hot damn she shmokin' hot!"

"You make it sound like you want her to go out on a date with someone." Lhaklar said. "Mom has been single ever since arriving on this planet with us. Even fought Atlas to keep his hands off of her, remember that? He'd so much as caress her she'd go to pieces."

"I remember, I'm not saying that she'll be going out on a date with anyone. Just have something nice to wear, something to say she is loved." Bile said.

"I think everyone knows how much she is loved." Lhaklar said.

"Maybe not go out with someone as in a date type of thing but as a friendly outing?" Lazeer said. "I think Casey called last week and asked her if she wanted to join her on her outing to Rock Springs."

"She did, I listened in on their conversation. Ma said she couldn't because of all the shit that's been going on with our father's and their lot being in the area." Bile said, he swung his fist and sent his punching bag flying back, it almost touched the ceiling before dropping back down. "I suggest we suggest to her that we all go out. She and Casey go out this weekend to Rock Springs and we go up to one of the northern counties or something."

"I have work on Saturday, you know that." Lhaklar said.

"Alright then, just me, Hazaar and Lazeer."

"I'm alright with that, at least if anything happens we won't be in the area to get hurt and she won't be worried sick about us." Lhaklar said. "Well... least you guys since I will be in this county."

"Go to a club someplace else then," Bile said. "fuck Kale's World. Go to that club in Rock Springs or that big club up north in Park County, make a few hundred dollars then come home after your done dancing."

Bile and Lazeer decided to do the chores that their mother would normally do upon walking through the front door. Bile did the laundry, he even folded the clothes after he took them out of the dryer then he grabbed a mop and did the floors in the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room. Lazeer got to work on supper, he got quite a lot of teasing for it but he made the half ham that their mother had bought the day before and then he set down to peeling then cutting up some potatoes as he had decided to make homemade potatoes instead of using the instant made stuff that was in the cabinet. He also put on a pot of green beans, French style, on the stove. Lhaklar just sat in a chair, he didn't like the idea of his brothers asking if they could be allowed to go out to a different county while their mother went out with her friend, he wanted everyone to be safe and he figured that with them all being in a location that they all knew that they would be. Hazaar, after he found out about the plan to have their mother go out for a refreshing day out with her friend and for them to be allowed to go out to a different county, joined in on the cleaning. He grabbed the Windex and a rag then started washing the windows on both the first and second floors of the apartment, he left not a streak on the glass, then he went and grabbed the vacuum. He cleaned it good, made sure that nothing was clogging up the filters, then he vacuumed the entire apartment. They did everything as best as they could and were waiting for their mother at six o' clock, she teleported right in front of the front door of the apartment, inserted the key then walked in thinking that it seemed to be a bit too quiet in the place where she and her sons, who she could normally hear after teleporting to the edge of the sidewalk that ran up to the front door of the apartment.

"My goodness, either something is up or I'm having one fine day." Angel said upon walking into the apartment and having al four of her sons rush up and grab her up in deep hugs. Angel then caught the scent of ham cooking. "Is that supper I smell?"

"Yeah, all made up." Hazaar said. "Ham, rolls, homemade potatoes and green beans."

"I made sure it was cooked well so none of us will need a hospital visit for food poisoning." Lazeer said.

"We will now that we know who it was who cooked the food." Hazaar said.

"Lhaklar, you look upset." Angel said, she didn't have to take off her coat, Bile slid it off of her for her then put it up in the closet. "Thank you, Biley. What's wrong, Lhakie?"

Lhaklar was the one who spilled the beans on what they had hoped would happen. He sat their mother down, told her the reason for all the cooking and house cleaning, he told their mother that his brothers wanted her to go out with Casey on one of them friends only things then said that his brothers also wanted to go out but, since "the family", as he so put it, was so near they wanted to be given permission to go to one of the counties up in the north. Their mother listened to him in silence, she nodded her head a few times then, after he had finished spilling their hoped plan out she stood up. Bile glared at Lhaklar then sat down in the chair that was in the living room, his two younger brothers plopped themselves down on the floor, they felt defeated and drained. Lhaklar, who was on the couch, saw their behavior as something only a child would do and not ones who had been given lessons in how to behave maturely. He had not helped any with the cleaning up or cooking, he had seen that as an attempt of his brothers' to butter their mother up.

"Mama, we only want for you to be happy. Not stressed, you've been stressed out a lot lately. We figured that if you got out-of-town with Casey for a few hours for one of them friendly get togethers would be a good stress reliever for you." Bile said, he had his fingers lying flat against the temple on the left side of his head. "We didn't do any of the cleaning or cooking as a way to do a tendering on you, we wouldn't dare disrespect you, we wanted to lessen your workload. You come home after a hard day at work, you've been on your feet all damn day long, you need a break."

"We have never used doing the chores or cook the meals as a way to get what we want, we know better." Lazeer said, he directed his saying at his older brother who was sitting quietly on the couch. "We just wanted to help our mother, you just sat there and watched us as we worked."

"I'm surprised you didn't tell her of how we were also talking about going to get her a jewelry item," Hazaar said, he was glaring hotly at Lhaklar, the muscle in his arms and legs were bunched up, ready to use as he was about to shoot up from his place on the floor. "we wanted to get you something pretty and shiny, momma. Something that would say how much you're loved."

Angel looked at Bile then down at Hazaar and Lazeer, she understood how her first and third and fourthborn sons felt about both being cooped up in the apartment and how they were feeling now about how Lhaklar had snitched out what they had had in mind. She appreciated that three of her four sons had helped out to lessen her workload and she appreciated the fact that her sons were trying to send her away with her friend for a girls day out, she felt no anger towards any of her sons but she did feel slightly frustrated and annoyed at Lhaklar for trying to get his brothers into trouble. Lhaklar was the most mature of her sons, yes, but he did have a notion in taking that a bit too far. She understood that his telling her of his brothers' plans was his way of letting her know what was happening inside the apartment but he had done it in a rather immature way. He had ratted his brothers out on something that he shouldn't have.

"Bile, Lazeer, Hazaar, I know how much I'm loved and that's obviously quite a damn lot." Angel said. "What you three have done is very nice, very generous and I appreciate that so much. Lhaklar," Angel turned and looked at her secondborn son. "I don't see a problem in your brothers' doing the chores or cooking supper to help me out and I don't see a problem in me going out with my lady friend or in you and your brothers going up north. Your father is here. Your father is in the south, baby."

"But if he knew-..."

"He won't. He's got Green River under surveillance for us, not a county to the east or a county up north." Angel walked over and sat beside her son. "I know you meant well by telling me what they had planned but, honey, what you just did was snitch on them. I see no problem in them going up north or to the west, just as long as they stay in the shield and keep their communicators on their persons at all times, and I see no problem in you joining them or in my going out with a friend of mine for a few hours. Think we all have been stressed lately, we all need to go out and do a little relieving."

"I'd love to but I have work on Saturday." Lhaklar said, he was looking away from his mother, he felt an inner hurt within him that he directed towards himself. He felt shame for snitching out his brothers and for dropping a level in maturity. "I can't, I'd love to but-..."

"Go out tomorrow then, I'm not going into work tomorrow. Casey was asking for me to go out with her to Fremont County tomorrow earlier. After seeing and hearing what your brothers have done this afternoon, I think I'll be joining her." Angel said.

"So we can go out?" Hazaar stood up sharply, Angel looked over at her thirdborn son quickly.

"Yes, honey. You boys have my permission to go either west or north of this county." Angel said. "Just stay in the shield and keep your communicators on you. Plug them into an outlet now so they'll be good and charged for tomorrow."

"Mommy I love you so!" Lazeer got up and ran over to Angel, he wrapped her up in a hug then kissed her cheek twice.

"My goodness! All of ya'lls hugs keep getting warmer with each giving." Angel said, she returned her sons' hug and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Warm with our love for you, ma." Bile said, he had gotten up from the chair he had been sitting in and was now leaning down to give his mother a hug.

"Now that we have tomorrow all planned out, we better get to the food before it gets cold." Angel said, she got up slowly then walked into the kitchen, her four sons followed behind her. "Hazaar, looks like you decided to fix up your hair today."

"You like?" Hazaar held his hand back, the corners of his O-shaped mouth curved up slightly. "I figured I should fix it up some."

"Looks very good, not a hair out of place which makes me wonder if you aren't sneaking in a girlfriend in here while my back is turned."

"Girlfriend? I married Rita Hayworth last night. We're expecting a baby in nine months, your first grandchild." Hazaar said.

"He married Rita Hayworth, I married Jane Russell last night. We're expecting twins." Lazeer said.

"Silly boys." Angel laughed, she started making plates for everyone. "One day you will make me a grandmother but, right now, keep it at just joking. I want no grandchildren until you four have reached the appropriate age of above five thousand years."


	27. Chapter 27

"Whoa! Lhaklar, your girlfriend changed her hair color to green man!" Hazaar exclaimed after he had opened the front door and has seen his mother's friend, Casey Cooke, standing, all bundled in in a nice, black leather jacket. Casey had cut her hair some and had given it a slightly spiked feel, some of the spikes she had dyed green which contrasted finely with the rest of her black hair. Hazaar thought it was very cool.

"Hello Hazaar, nice to see you this morning." Casey said, Hazaar had moved over some then had beckoned for her to come in. "Looks like you've done something with your hair too."

"Yeah, decided to hold up the first floor's bathroom for a few minutes right after I got up." Hazaar said, he had braided two strands of his hair fully then had decided to do two more strands only, with them two, he had braided halfway then had separated the braids with two bright blue beads.

"Bet you made for some frustrated brothers." Casey said, she held her hand up after Hazaar went to take her coat. She wanted to head out quickly.

"Oh yeah, Lazeer was howlin' mad." Hazaar said. "Bile near banged the door down a few minutes later because he was taking so long in the bathroom upstairs near his and Lhaklar's room."

"My goodness, think you guy need to think about getting an apartment that had three bathrooms soon." Casey said. "Has Lazeer gotten his glass yet?"

"No, we have four hundred saved up." Hazaar looked down, he shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "Lhaklar's got plans today, he'll be going someplace else while me and Lazeer will be nagging Bile until he's old and feeble as he'll be driving us around Lincoln County."

"Going away from the monsters that dwell beyond the misty shield, very wise thing to do my young friend." Casey said.

It had been decided soon after breakfast, a light meal of two pancakes and a glass of their mother's natural milk, that their mother would be heading with Casey to Rock Springs while Bile had asked if he could have the keys to the car so he could go to Lincoln County. He and Lazeer had ganged up on their older brother after he had been given approval on taking the Lucerne so they were to go wherever he went while Lhaklar had decided to head to Converse County. When he had been asked why he was going there by their mother he had said that he wanted to do some hunting in Medicine Bow National Forest and bring back a deer or a moose for supper. Their mother had given her approval on that then had given the suggestion also for him, Lazeer and Bile to also do a little hunting while in Lincoln County, the weather report said that it would be overcast until noon then the sun would be coming out from the clouds for only an hour or two before disappearing again, a small snowstorm was expected to drop about four inches of snow on their town during the later hours of the night, behind the small snowstorm the weatherman had said for the people of Green River to brace themselves as a big storm was coming that would blanket the town in nearly four feet of snow. Lhaklar walked down from upstairs, he had grabbed his good, brown leather jacket that had tassels hanging from the shoulders and he was wearing his coonskin cap that had a raccoon tail attached to the back on him, when he saw Casey he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Please don't tell me you're giving my brother pointers on dying his hair." Lhaklar said, the corners of his O-shaped mouth curled up slightly. "Look good, Case. You did it yourself?"

"No, this I let my neighbor do." Casey replied. "You look very nice. Like that jacket."

"So do I, going to be cold out so figured I'd best wear this and the cap to keep me warm as I hunt." Lhaklar replied.

"What'd you throw to get that?" Casey asked. "Where'd you get the jacket?"

"The dump, you humans have an uncanny way of tossing things that have good use still in them." Lhaklar replied. "It had some tassels attached to the back as well but they were falling off so I discarded them. Took nearly a week for it to be cleaned and able to wear."

"You have a good set of eyes on you, keep an eye out for a jacket like that for me the next time you head to the dump." Casey said with a smile. "Where's your mom?"

"Upstairs in the bathroom, getting ready." Lhaklar replied, he then added, "that is if Bile ever leaves her alone."

"Uh oh, what's he up to now?" Casey asked with a chuckle. "Money?"

"Nope, just doing his usual hounding her on how to be careful." Lhaklar replied, he kept it to himself that he had also given his mother some pointers on being careful while she and Casey went out to Rock Springs. "Hazaar and Lazeer were hounding her earlier."

"She knows you boys are only doing that because you love her. That's a good thing that you're so close and protective of her, she appreciates that quite a lot." Casey said, what she had said was true, her friend had said that to her several times. "We'll always be available to talk to, contact us on one of them things you guys have or stop by a convenience store and ask to use the phone, I have my cellular on me and I think y-..."

Their mother got all of their attention and fast as soon as she started walking down the stairs. Bile was right behind her, he had her coat on his arm which said that he was fully intending on helping her into it and possibly walking her out to Casey's Mercedes. Although she had bought the black slacks that she was wearing for herself a few months before, the shirt, a dark purple satin blouse that had a low-cut front and short sleeves, that their mother was wearing was one that Hazaar had found for her one day a few months ago when he had gone to the dump to rummage for things that still had life in them. She had black shoes on her feet and she had added a dark purple, satin belt around her waist to keep the shirt tight around her as it was somewhat over her size. The second that their mother had finished her descent from the stairs he and his brothers all gathered around her, Casey looked on in a silent shock as the four sons of her friend badgered her with advice.

"Have fun while you're out," Lhaklar said.

"Don't worry about us any," Bile said.

"Don't shake yourself too much for the men," Hazaar said, Casey's mouth dropped open for only a second before she clamped it shut.

"Spend a little on yourself," Lazeer said. "don't worry about my glass, it'll come one day."

"Flirt a little but not too much." Bile said, Casey rolled her eyes.

"Watch the hands," Lhaklar said, Casey's eyes grew large and she was sure that her friend was going to start putting an end to all of the advice giving as she looked rather uncomfortable.

"We love you." Hazaar said, he walked up and gave his mother a hug then found himself being squashed as Bile, Lhaklar and Lazeer also walked up and wrapped her up in hugs at the same time.

"Who's the adult again? I feel like I'm in the middle of four paternal units." Angel said, she returned her sons' hugs then gave each of her four sons a kiss on the cheek. "Now, you four have fun on your outings. Stay out of trouble. Stay inside the shield. Cause a little mischief but not much and, Lhaklar," Angel looked at her secondborn son. "don't bring back the biggest deer or moose you find. A medium-sized animal is good enough, don't over do it."

"We will!" Bile, Hazaar and Lazeer said together.

"I promise," Lhaklar said. "I'll probably do some fishing as well, just to pass the time."

"And don't bring back the entire fish population in the river that you decide to fish in." Angel said. "You all have your communicators?"

"Yes," all four of her sons said together, they then produced their communicators, all of which had a green light on the side which showed that all were very well charged.

"Be back by five, no later." Angel said, she took her coat from Bile, put it on then elbowed past her sons. "Keep an eye on Lazeer, Bile and Hazaar. If you see the sun coming out, rush him someplace where there's shade. He only has one bottle of drops left, remember that."

"I will." Bile and Hazaar said together.

"Only half full, I'll have the normal drops with me as well but you know how those work on me." Lazeer sighed, he went into his depressed mood for only a few seconds before perking back up. "I'll be fine, don't worry mama. We'll be good and we'll have fun."

"You best." Angel said, she nodded at her friend then went to the door. "Lock the place up tight before you leave, all of you have the key?"

"In our pockets and there's one above the door frame outside." Bile said. "Along with another above the door frame in the back."

She put her coat on then left the apartment, she heard the noise of her sons running to look out the front window and watch as she left, this was normal behavior, nothing to be worried about. Her sons always ganged up on the window that was in the living room to watch as she left for work, they claimed that they just wanted to be sure that she was safe and that they also wanted to get that lost look before she teleported away. All the advice she had taken in stride, they always did that whenever she went out and she did appreciate it because it just told her how much they cared and loved her. Angel got into the passenger side of her friend's car, swung the seat belt around then snapped it in place then turned around and waved at her four sons, her friend got in quickly then started the car up. As she was driven away from her sons she felt that urge to say to her friend to stop, she had felt that motherly instinct of wanting to be around her offspring all the time from the very beginning, from right when Bile had been born, and it was so strong... as always she swallowed the instinct and told herself that it was only for a few hours, if it was forever she'd not of gone with her friend, she'd of stayed with her sons. Her sons had told her once that no matter how old they got they'd always be with her, she wondered if that would prove true once they reached past three thousand years of age. She had had no thoughts of making other babies with other men, of having babies with Atlas or even going to the Sperm Ward on Gamma-Vile to get two samples of Tazir's seed to create two more babies. That, she felt, was like an act of betrayal. That would be like saying my sons are growing up, I'm lonely without having them with me so I have to have more babies to fill that void that they left in my heart. She gave her sons their space, they gave her hers, she didn't smother them with her protective instincts, she didn't overly discipline them or do the over-rule thing, she let them be themselves and they appreciated that. Angel leaned her forehead on the window, she felt a heaviness in her stomach that she didn't like. It was both heavy and cold at the same time and it was also flip-flopping around.

"Just get-out-of-the-house jitters, that's all I'm feeling." she thought to herself. "It'll go away once we begin our outing."

He had joined his brothers in watching their mother go off to her friends car and had felt that feeling of sadness roll over him. The thoughts of would she be coming back, when will she be coming back, she isn't leaving to make us fend for ourselves right and the big one that nearly made him run out and beg for her to not go; will she be coming back singly or will she be wrapped around someone's arm. These were normal thoughts, he knew that they only stemmed from his closeness to her and he knew that his brothers were also having these same thoughts run through their heads, if they hadn't been thinking the same as he then they would have backed away from the window right after she and Casey had driven off. They were all close to their mother, they loved her greatly and feared that one day she'd not be coming back whenever she went off on her own, either on her way to work, on an outing with a friend or heading out to visit Granny D and her lot or go out hunting. The sad feeling had quickly turned itself into a shamed feeling after he and his brothers dispersed from the window and began making their rounds in collecting their things and checking to see if the apartment was closed up tight from the inside.

This shameful feeling stemmed from what he had done just before his mother had woken up. He had called Kale, his boss at Kale's World, and had asked if he could come in that morning for a quick, one hour, dancing session. Kale had said he could but he'd be taking out some of what he made for taking up a slot on the dance floor which, he had said, was $30. That was cool because he had plans to go to three clubs and dance that day. He'd do an hours worth of dancing at Kale's World, collect his pay, hand off the fee then head off to Rails, a club in Kemmerer city that was in Lincoln County and do three hours worth of dancing there which, the owner had said when he had called him, would get him $689, there was a $100 fee for taking up a slot on the dance floor but he was okay with that as, he was sure, he'd be making $240 at Kale's prior to going to Rails. After dancing there he'd take a small break for a very early lunch then he'd teleport to Powell city that was in Park County that was two counties up from Lincoln County. The club there was called Naughty or Nice and, the owner had said, since he had experience and since there was an opening he could come in and dance for two hours. There was no fee for that club, he could come in, do his dancing, collect his pay then leave. He'd then go and do some hunting, bag a buck or a bull moose, do some fishing then head home, he'd fabricate a story of what he had done all day long while he took care of the deer or moose that he had felled during his hunt and the fish that he had caught after he had finished his hunting.

He had his outfit all picked out, he'd start dancing as a hunter then tear everything off and become Tarzan. The chicks went nuts for his little Tarzan outfit, which only consisted of one piece which held him in only just. He was looking to collect anywhere between $600 and a thousand dollars from the Powell city club, that would mean that Lazeer would get his glass as he was dancing tomorrow at Kale's World and was expecting $300 from there. Lhaklar brushed the shameful feeling away quickly, he was doing this triple dancing thing to get enough funds collected for his brother's glass, he'd not be doing any of this for no reason after all. Lazeer needed his glass and by golly gosh he was going to do all that he could to help in getting the funds together so that he could get it. Lazeer would no longer be depressed, he'd be happy. He'd be able to go outside in the sun, he'd be able to play when the sun was out in full, he'd not feel anymore pain because the glass would protect his eye and he'd become his old self again. He'd go back to his overly joking self, he'd bug them crazy again and, also, that glass would make matters in the apartment with his family go back to being normal. With this in mind, Lhaklar grabbed his bag, a normal, brown duffel bag, wished his brothers luck in whatever they were going to do that day then teleported to Kale's World for act 1. Bile shook his head then turned and grabbed his coat.

"And I'm left with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum." Bile said with a sigh. "Alright you knit-wits! Grab whatever you're taking and let's get!"

"Should we make up anything to eat?" Lazeer asked. "Sandwiches or something?"

"I have a fifty dollar bill on me, if we get hungry we can just get one of them dollar meals from one of them restaurants in Lincoln." Hazaar said. "Or we could get something at Kentucky Fried Chicken."

"I made that restaurant go bust yesterday, didn't you hear?" Lazeer elbowed Bile in the ribs, hard. "Took everything they had, left nothing for the mice or birds."

"You're full of shit, Lazeer." Bile said. "Well, if you two want some homemade sandwiches you need to make them now. If not, grab your things and let's go. It's seven in the morning, we're burning morning light."

"I have a hundred dollars on me, I guess we can go to Kentucky Fried Chicken if we want." Lazeer said, his two brothers looked at him in shock.

"How the hell did you come by that much dough, Baby Brother?" Bile demanded to know.

"I robbed a bank yesterday, remember?" Lazeer said. His two brothers stood in front of him, barring him from going out the door or up the stairs. When he tried to go past them they pushed him back. "I've... not been using my allowance much lately."

"I don't think we need to worry about sandwiches," Hazaar said. "our rich Baby Brother can pay our way for lunch."

"The hell I will!" Lazeer exclaimed. "Pay your own way, I'm buying something for mom with most of my monopoly money."

"I've got sixty on me," Bile said as he led the way out of the apartment. "enough for a meal, gas for the car and to buy something for mom as well."

"And exactly why are you going to buy gas when you're full of noxious fumes?" Lazeer asked. "You can keep the car running by simply pointing your ass at the gas tank."

"Very funny, Lazeer." Bile said, he looked up at the sky then shook his head in despair. He'd have to hear his brother's jokes for the entire drive to Lincoln, he had a feeling. "Alright, everyone inside. I'm driving."

"I hope someone warned DMV and the police and the department of transportation that you're driving." Hazaar said. "You drive like a freakin' maniac!"

"Thank you, I try." Bile said as he ducked into the car. Hazaar saw that his brother had a large bag with him, he didn't need to ask about what the contents in the bag were. Bile was one who liked to listen to music when he drove, his music was the reason why he drove with such a heavy foot on the gas pedal. He cranked it up loud, so loud that if anyone said anything their sayings would be lost in the music.

"Got your drops, Lazeer?" Bile asked after his youngest brother had slid into the passenger seat beside him.

"What's left of them, yeah." Lazeer replied. "Also got the Visine Tears bottle on me."

"The tunnel's dark, so you won't have to worry about ducking under the seat or anything for a while." Bile said, he inserted the key into the ignition, turned it then the car started up. Their mother's car had a real smooth start to it, their mother did her best to keep her Buick Lucerne in good shape. "It'll be two hours before we reach Lincoln so you two best buckle up, shut up and listen to the music. It ain't goin' off until we're out of the tunnel."

"Thanks for the warning," Hazaar said as he slid into the back seat, he sat behind Bile. "my ear lawyer will be paying you a visit tonight."

"You're mean, I'm tellin' mom that you was mean to us." Lazeer faked a cry, he then checked the pocket on his jacket for his communicator. "Both you lunatics have your communicators on you, right?"

"On my belt," Bile replied, he turned around and started backing the car out of the driveway.

"Yeah, in my pants pocket." Hazaar said.

"Guess we're all ready then," Lazeer said. "take us to Lincoln County you maniac."

Just as Bile drove at five miles under the speed limit down the street that the apartment was that he and his family had all decided to abandon for the day, TazirVile was looking through the file cabinets that were in the Food Lion where his Universal Wife worked at. The day before he had been surprised to find out that his wife had not come in for work, although he had no idea what his wife's time percentage was in punching her card in, as it had been coined some many hundreds of thousands of years ago, or in her taking time off to take care of matters of the household or herself, he had a feeling that she was one who showed up to work as close to her scheduled time as she could. After Losal had reported that his wife had not come in for work the day before he had decided to rally up some of his staff and head in to do a little personal searching of the place himself. Losal and Kalach had blasted a portion of the shield down so he could enter the city-turned-town of Green River, Wyoming then the three other Goblins that he had picked to come along with him had followed him after he had walked through the opening. He had not stopped to take in any of the surroundings, he had not spoken to any of the locals who had stopped to gawk stupidly at him and he had not yelled for either of his staff to chase after any of the locals that ran off screaming their fool heads off after they had seen them. He had gone straight to the Food Lion, had thrown his hands to the side upon finding that the back door was locked and had thrown some acid onto the back door to make a section burn so he could reach his hand in and unlock the door then he had walked through the door after he had opened it. Since it was opening hours, he had decided to come in through the back so not to frighten any of the locals further into causing his wife and sons to go into further hiding, like he believed that they had done. He had given the order for Ulok Gzujus and his twin brother, Olok, to check the rooms on the left side of the hallway that they were on for any sort of information on his wife then he had entered and done his own searching in the rooms on the right side of the hallway. Losal and Kalach were keeping guard, they were standing with their wands at the ready to use if they needed to use them to stun a human into silence, so far no humans had walked down the hallway but they had heard them... all of them had heard a human pushed a handcart through the swinging doors that had a seal on them a few times, probably a human that was headed for more produce or canned goods or even meat to put on the shelves or in the meat section of the store.

He had searched two rooms and had found nothing, he was amazed at how unorganized the humans were. In the two rooms he had searched he had found two file cabinets and one desk. In the desk he had found an apple core, a pizza crust and plenty of spider webs and the leftovers of a spiders meal, the wings and legs of the insects that could not be turned into a liquid based meal by the arachnids. He had also found some paper that was rather greasy and yellow in places. Right disgusting! He had found nothing in the file cabinets as well, some junk writings of no importance that really shouldn't be in the cabinets and that was all, the other cabinet was empty so he didn't have to worry about putting his hands on anything that might have a germ or disease on it in that cabinet. He had a pair of white, tuxedo gloves on his hands, they were to keep his hands safe from the germs, bacteria and diseases that were in the store and, so far, they had kept his hands dry and clean. TazirVile went to the third room, peered in and saw that it was empty so decided to skip it and go to the next.

"Psst, Master Tazir." he heard, he turned around and saw that Ulok Gzujus, a blue skinned Goblin that had warts on his cheeks, a straight nose and large, brown eyes, who was wearing a black tuxedo and who was four feet, four inches tall, was gesturing for him to come to him.

"What is it, Ulok?" TazirVile asked after he had walked up to the Goblin.

"My brother found this in the room behind me." Ulok said, he handed two pieces of paper over to his employer that had been stapled in the far, left side corner then backed away one step. TazirVile surveyed the pieces of paper and saw that it was a resume. On closer inspection, he saw that it was his wife's resume.

Name: Irene, Angel DOB: May 15, 1758 Age: 2440 Gender: Female

Work:

Max's Shoes

Day/Month/Year Hired: March 12, 3003

Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Employer: David Charleston

Position: Salesperson

Pay: $4.40/her

On Time Percentage: 90%

Reason for leaving: Plague/Natural Disaster/Kids

Employer Quote: None, employer was one of the first to succumb to the plague.

Krispy Kreme Donuts

Day/Month/Year Hired: January 1, 3039

Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Employer: Alice Shaffer

Position: Register

Pay: $5.40/her

On Time Percentage: 80%

Reason for leaving: Plague

Employer Quote: Employee was very nice, had issues with her son's which caused for her to not come into work. Very understanding, patient and very down to Earth.

Crispy Star Cinema

Day/Month/Year Hired: June 12, 3043

Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Employer: Jerry Macklin

Position: Concession, works the candy and popcorn bar

Pay: $$8.50/hr

On Time Percentage: 75%

Reason for leaving: Quit, had issues with manager and co-workers

Employer Quote: Employee worked professionally but had many fights with her co-workers over her son's coming into the establishment, claims were made that her son's were stealing and that she was letting her son's see the movies for free. Fight with the employer soon after accusations were made, she quit right talking the employer.

Lady's Boutique

Day/Month/Year Hired: November 15, 3080

Location: Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Employer: Sandy Wilkins

Position: Salesperson

Pay: $6.50/hr

On Time Percentage: 80%

Reason for leaving: Plague set in, employee didn't come in afterwards due to two back-to-back natural disasters. Store closed after the first natural disaster

Employer Quote: Employee is very professional but she tends to not come in because of her children and their needs. Nearly got fired twice due to chosing children over work.

Water Works (movie)

Month/Day/Year Hired: October 5, 3097

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Employer: Horace Sloccum, director/writer/producer

Position: Special Effects

Pay: $100,000 (employee set salary herself, claimed for expenses for [1] son's education)

On Time Percentage: 100%

Reason for leaving: Film was completed

Employer Quote: Excellent employee, does spectacular things with her powers to make the effects real which makes the film better in the eyes of the viewer. Very patient and understanding.

Shake (movie)

Month/Day/Year Hired: September 23, 3098

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Employer: Victor Crumb, director

Co-employer: Benjamin Morrison, producer/writer

Position: Special Effects

Pay: $300,000 (employee set salary herself, claimed for expenses for [2] son's and [1] charge's education)

On Time Percentage: 100%

Reason for leaving: Film was completed

Employer Quote: Most excellent employee, does some fine things with her magical powers to make the effects real and more believable. Had it not been for her powers the film would not be as powerful as it had been upon completion. Understanding, kind and patient, very polite.

Volcano Eruption (movie)

Month/Day/Year Hired: May 3, 3498

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Employer: Kenneth Copeland, director, producer

Co-employer: William Harrison, writer

Position: Special Effects

Pay: $400,000 (employee set salary herself, claimed for expenses for [2] son's and [1] charge's education's)

On Time Percentage: 90%

Reason for leaving: Film was completed

Employer Quotes: Due to issues at home she couldn't be on set as much as we wished she would, her powers aided the film greatly and made it a smashing success at the box office. Top notch employee.

Disaster: Helen Erupts (movie)

Month/Day/Year Hired: August 8, 4199

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Employer: William Jennings, director/writer/producer

Position: Special Effects

Pay: $50,000 (employee set salary herself, claimed for expenses for her [4] son's and costs for housing, bills and repairs on a vehicle)

On Time Percentage: 91%

Reason for leaving: Film was completed

Employer Quote: She wasn't on set for most of the film due to problems at home with her one of her four sons, her powers made the film believable and enjoyable. Excellent employee, only problem is her temper and the fact that, after three films, her loyalties are not tied fully into movie-making anymore.

He had a feeling he was going to get Losal or Eldass to go into one of the blockbusters to get the films that his wife had been involved with. She had been wise in deciding to allow the humans to hire and allow her to use her powers for the special effects in the disaster movies. Tuition for Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic was not cheap, it cost a hundred thousand just for a student to be enrolled and that didn't include costs from their classes, he had thrown nearly two hundred grand for Eshal to go to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and then he had also had to pay for her tuition when she had gone to the University of Telepathy, which had been a hundred and twenty thousand dollars. He admired his wife for putting four children through school, she had really thought ahead with her salaries. TazirVile folded the resume then slid it into the inside pocket of his dark green tuxedo jacket, there was no way that he was going to leave the resume there, he'd file it away later as proof of his wife's activities over the years.

"Where did Olok find her resume?" he asked Ulok.

"Right here, sir." Olok, a blue skinned Goblin that had warts on his cheeks, a crooked nose and large, brown eyes who was Ulok's twin brother, replied. He led his employer into the room he had found the resume then stood out of the way as his employer began looking through the file cabinets and the one corner desk that were in the room.

Ulok and Olok watched as their employer checked the room thoroughly, he opened each cabinet drawer then ran through the contents before going to the next then, after he was done looking through the first file cabinet he went to the next one. There were a total of three cabinets in the room, one was right rusty while the other two were painted a bright blue color, the desk was just one of them simple, corner types that had a black phone and an old lamp on the surface, there was a plain, brown wooden chair pulled up to the corner desk. The vinyl on the floor was faded, it had once been a blue diamond color but was now a baby blue color, the walls were a light blue color, there were a few cracks in the corners of the room and the ceiling had a pebbled texture and was a dingy white color. Their employer checked the second cabinet, found nothing then went to the rusted cabinet. He ran his finger over the top once, grimaced then opened the top drawer, Ulok couldn't be more impressed as he had thought that he or his brother would be the ones checking that cabinet.

He and his brother hadn't much liked their master's Universal Wife at first, they had spent as much time as they could away from her, even after she had given birth to Lhaklar they had kept a distance from her. She was a fine mother, they would not disagree with that, and she did treat their employer well and she did act friendly with their co-workers. It had taken a full three years before they had come around with her, she had been nice and polite, had complimented their dress sense and their politeness and had given them their space which they had respected. He and his brother were not shy by any means, they were just careful with who they were around and they liked to keep their history to themselves as they knew that there were bag eggs out there, people that once they were told something they'd run and spread it about. Mistress Angel had not asked them a thing on their personal lives, she had not asked them if they had a wife or children or even about their family, she had let them build up their own trust in her and tell her themselves. He and his brother had decided to go on and tell her about their lives after they had overheard Kalach Speelin telling her about his life and family history, their co-worker had a few things that he didn't want told to others, he kept the dark stuff of his past deeply guarded, only their employer and a handful of his co-workers, he and Olok included, knew of his dark secrets. On the night of Young Master Hazaar's second week of conception he had told their employer's wife his dark secrets, he and his brother had watched their Mistress afterwards, both out of fear for their co-worker and his career which, if the secrets he had told her had gotten out would have been tarnished, and out of curiosity. Five days after Kalach had told Mistress Angel his secrets and she had not spilled them he and his brother had decided to sit her down and tell her some things about themselves.

He and his twin brother were orphans, their mother had been in labor for two days and two nights before having to be cut open for them to be born and afterwards she had died. There had been no family that had wanted to take them in, the Gzujus family had hit a rough patch after a relative had been caught in bed with an employer's wife and were being shunned by the general Goblin public so he and his brother had been put in an orphanage. He and Olok had been raised together for twenty years then a couple looking to adopt a baby boy had come in, he and his brother had been the only babies in the orphanage at the time so they had been the most likely candidates for the couple. There had been a problem early on after he and his brother had been showed to the couple, the couple were looking for one baby, not two so in order for an adoption to be done he and his brother had to be separated. Olok had gone off with the couple while he had stayed in the orphanage. He had stayed at the orphanage for another thirty years before being adopted out to a sax-sex couple who had been looking to adopt an infant to raise as their own.

His adopted family had been nice, he had asked only once about what a mother was and the one male who acted more like a female had explained to him that a mother was a being that was either of female gender who raised a child or one who acted female and took on the raising of a child to adulthood. He had gotten no flack for being raised by a same-sex family, there had been no _oh you was raised by queers, you're going to be forced to be a queer, which one acts as your mother and which one acts like you father_, he had been treated nicely throughout his childhood years and then he had been sent off to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic once he had turned one thousand, one hundred years old for two hundred and twenty years, an extra twenty years tacked on by his own choosing as he had wanted to learn a few more spells, potions and languages. Afterwards, he had gone off to Staffer's Academy for three hundred years. He had graduated with fine marks on his rank cards, he had gone through several clubs, had been involved with the mechanics groups and he had also attended several classes on how to drive the big trucks that had trailers behind them that would carry livestock like horses, cows, pigs, sheep and goats. Soon after he had graduated from Staffer's Academy he had started to wonder about his real surname, after he had been adopted he had been given a new surname, he had gone by the name of Ulok Aeyuzuun for nearly one thousand, seven hundred years, he had never been told about his real surname and he had never really known what it was. The surname of Gzujus had been found one day after he had slipped into his father's office and had found his adoption papers.

Name: Ulok Gzujus

Age: 50 years old

Brothers/Sister: Olok Gzujus (twin)

Mother: Raokisha Vulomong

Father: Edurot Gzujus

Reason For Adoption: Mother passed away during the birth of her twins, father is in jail and family won't accept their offspring due to family issues.

He had pocketed the adoption papers then had gone on with his life for a few hundred years, when he had turned two thousand, two hundred and thirty years old he had started looking up information on the Gzujus family. It had been his father's brother who had been discovered in the bed with his employer's wife, Shilfog Gzujus had slept with Meelobe Nalass and she had caught pregnant, this had been found out by Shilfog's boss and he had been fired, the baby had been aborted and the Gzujus family had gone down to near poverty. His father had done all that he could to provide for his pregnant wife, he had gone through fifty jobs, due to what his brother had done he had not been allowed to work for much more than a week before he was fired and then he had decided to do something that had further shamed the family. He had tried to rob an armored car that had been carrying over a hundred grand in it, he had been caught by the driver but due to some issue on the drivers part he had been able to make off with twenty thousand dollars. His father had grabbed his mother, who had been seven and a half months pregnant at the time, and they had ran from the law soon after. It had taken all of a month before his father was caught, his father had been tried and had been found guilty then he had been locked up for his crime. Soon after his parents had been caught his mother had gone into labor, it had taken his father a hundred years before he had found out what had happened to his wife, after his father had heard that his wife had died giving birth to two twin boys he had hung himself in his cell.

With that knowledge in place on where his parents were and why he had been put in an orphanage and adopted out, he had started searching for his twin. The orphanage had told him that Olok had been adopted before him, the couple that had adopted him had only wanted one child so it had been decided to split them up. Olok's adopted family had been one named Serirsepp, he had been told and he had also been warned that the family would probably not allow him near his brother as they were a rather shut-off family that didn't like strangers. He had searched for quite a lot of years, his search had taken up a lot of his life and his adopted family, after they had caught on that he was looking for information on where he had come from and where his twin brother was, had told him to stop his search and start making a life for himself. He had not listened, he had been stubborn and had been disowned for his stubbornness on his four thousandth birthday. The one who had acted as his fatherly figure had said to him that he was thoroughly ashamed of him for his not listening and his stubbornness and the one who had acted as his maternal figure had said that he had broken his heart.

He had found his brother four thousand years later, a friend of his had told him that a TazirVile Surfeit had one named Olok in his service and he had gone to check him out. His brother had gone to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic at the exact same time as he had, he had enrolled and had gotten some good grades in Staffer's Academy at the same time as he had but there was a major difference between he and Olok. His twin was gay while he was straight. He hadn't minded that at all, he was his brother, the only family he had, Olok could be straight, gay, bi-sexual or asexual and he'd still accept him for who he was and that was his brother. He had gone up to Mr. Surfeit's door, had knocked then had waited. A maid had let him in, he had asked to talk to Mr. Surfeit and had been surprised to hear that the man was away conquering a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. He had gone home, he had not wanted to chance telling the maid why he was there or in asking her if he could see his brother. It had taken a year before his brother's employer had come home, he had waited three months before making his move in going back to the mansion and had found himself being so nervous that he could barely talk after the maid had taken him up to the man's office.

"Mr. Surfeit," he had said. "my name's Ulok Aeyuzuun."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Aeyuzuun." TazirVile Surfeit had said, he had been sitting behind his desk and had looked like a rather nice man. "What is it that calls you to my house?"

"Mr. Surfeit, I've searched for quite a lot of thousands of years for my brother." he had had to swallowed twice after saying that, his nervousness had nearly gripped him to turning around and running out of the room. He had found an inner strength to go on... for his own sanity and for his brother who he did want to meet. "You see, my brother and I were separated. We were orphans and adopted out to different families. I've been searching for him for a while now."

"Does he work for me?" TazirVile Surfeit had asked.

"I was told an Olok worked for you." he had replied. "My brother's name is Olok."

"I do have an Olok working for me," Mr. Surfeit had pressed a button on his desk, had leaned down then had said, "tell Mr. Serirsepp that I wish to see him at once in my office."

Mr. Surfeit had left his office after his brother had entered the room, Olok Serirsepp had walked in and he had nearly collapsed. His brother, his twin brother, looked exactly like him except for one thing. Olok had blue skin, he had large, brown eyes and he had warts on his cheeks. The only difference was his nose, while he had a straight nose Olok had a crooked nose. Both he and his brother stood four-foot, four inches tall and both he and his brother had strong, lean bodies. He had felt awkward at first, his brother had been wearing a black tuxedo while he was just wearing a pair of brown pants that were ripped at the knees and thighs and a black shirt that had been ripped in the back. Olok had walked up to him, had looked him up and down then had walked around him before stopping in front of him. He had said nothing for a few seconds then had grabbed him up in one of them good, old, bone-crunching hugs. Had he been taken aback by the hug? You bet your fine, damn, bottom dollar he had been! He had expected for his brother to just walk up and say who are you... instead his brother had grabbed him up in a hug.

"I was wondering if I'd ever see the likes of my own living mirror." his brother had said. "What name did they give you after you was adopted? Did they keep your name as Ulok or change it?"

"They kept it as it was, was given the surname of Aeyuzuun though." he had replied.

"Think I prefer Gzujus," Olok had said. "make up a date for us to get together for some history sharing. I'm a bit busy at the moment but clear after nine."

"At night?" he had asked stupidly.

"Yeah, Master Tazir closes up shop at nine."

"Alright, how about Baiken's in town?"

"Sure, I'm up for Italian." his brother had said.

Olok had started looking for him soon after Mr. Surfeit had employed him. He had been disowned as well, his adopted family had cited betrayal for his search for his birth family and for him and he and they had not had any contact in hundreds of years. His brother had been beat up quite a lot because of his orientation, one of his former cousins had shoved his face into a pile of mud and had asked him if shit-eating was fun, a former classmate had kicked him in the ass several times and had asked him if he liked it and that same classmate had also set his brother's shoes on fire while they had still been on his feet. A teacher at Staffer's Academy had watched as his entire class had ganged up on his brother and had beat him raw with rulers and another teacher had turned a blind eye after a classmate slammed his brother's face into the surface of his desk. After his brother had graduated from Staffer's Academy he had gone unemployed for a few hundred years before Mr. Surfeit had arrived at his door. After a quick interview he had been hired, he had moved into one of the conveniently given apartments underneath TazirVile Surfeit's massive mansion and then he had started his search for him. Olok had worked for TazirVile Surfeit for only three hundred years before they had met each other. The dinner meet between he and his brother had spanned three hours, he had told his brother things on his life and then, when the outing was coming to a close, he had handed his brother his phone number then had asked for him to keep in touch. He had had no idea that his brother had meant what he had said when he had replied with oh, you don't have to worry your heads off on that one. I'll be keeping in contact for the rest of your life, he had gone home, had washed up then had gone to bed. A week later, Mr. Surfeit had showed up at his door, had interviewed him then had hired him to work for him. He had moved in with his brother in his apartment underneath Mr. Surfeit's mansion and he was still living in that apartment to that day with him.

They had told all of this to their employer's wife then had gotten up, had excused themselves then had gone off to finish what they had been doing before they had sat their mistress down for a talk. Mistress Angel had said not a thing of what they had said to anyone, she had kept what they had told her to herself and had gone by her routine in taking care of her two son's and in taking care of their employer and Eshal and in keeping her pregnancy going on schedule. They had caught a vibe coming off of her, she didn't need to say what was on her mind to them, they could just read it from looking at her whenever she was around them. The vibe just said to them congratulations on finding your other halves and in finding happiness in finding each other. They had been allowed to hold Young Master Hazaar after he had been born after the Surfeit family had held and interacted with him, Mistress Angel had let them carry her infant son after she had caught pregnant with baby number four, which they had thoroughly thought had been her illed father's next offspring as she had caught pregnant afterward he had raped her for nearly a week, and then he and his brother had shared in the horror and sadness after Young Master Lazeer had been born prematurely. When Mistress Angel had gone off with all four of her sons he and his brother had grown concerned, he and Olok had freaked, he and Olok had expressed no anger towards her action as they both had known that her father had been on her ass about leaving her sons, including the just born Lazeer who had been still very weak. Master Vile had thoroughly stressed her out and had made a gear within her shift into drive, he had driven her to disappear with her sons. No woman wanted to be separated from her children, he had threatened to steal her away in the night, he had threatened to steal her away from her sons and from Eshal and from Master Tazir. Both Ulok and his brother were just as thrilled that their Master's wife had been discovered and were above thrilled that she had three of her four sons still living that looked very healthy. Ulok sighed just as his employer tore out a piece of paper from the rusted file cabinet.

"Boys, get ready to teleport." TazirVile said, Ulok noticed that he had gotten excited and that made him wonder what he had found. "Losal! Kalach! Get in here!"

"Sir?" Kalach said upon entering the room, Losal walked in quietly behind him.

"We're heading to 14235 Forest Hill Dr., Green River, Wyoming." TazirVile said. "My wife's address."

"You foh-..." Losal's excitement was so great that he could say anything further.

"Yes, whatever we find we teleport to my place." TazirVile slid the piece of paper that had his wife's address on it in the inside pocket of his dark green tuxedo jacket. "Whatever we find that is a possession of my sons or my wife's, that is. Leave the furniture, naturally but everything else is to be sent to my place."

"We know the spells to have everything organized in a much better fashion than what we've seen in this establishment today, my Master." Ulok said, he then bowed low.

"Does that include the Reezal boy's items, sir?" Olok asked.

"Yes, even his stuff is to be teleported to my place." TazirVile replied, he said nothing more, he simply teleported out of the building with a triple golden flash. Ulok, Olok, Losal and Kalach followed right behind him.


	28. Chapter 28

"Freedom!" Hazaar exclaimed, he tore his seat belt off then kicked the door open. Upon getting out of his mother's Buick Lucerne he dropped to his knees and kissed the ground. "Oh sweet, sweet ground! My feet will never leave you again!"

"You're a retard!" Lazeer snickered, although he had near broken his neck to get out of the car as well.

For two hours he had made indention marks in the leather seats of his mother's deep red Buick Lucerne, for two hours he had yelled out for his brother to slow up and to turn the music down and in them two hours of his brother driving like a fuckin' maniac with his foot having the gas pedal nearly pressed down to the floor board of the car he had nearly lost his breakfast. He had counted each and every gag, each and every cough and each and every belly gurgle, when they had exited the underground tunnel that their mother had made soon after her return to the planet his brother had slowed down and his last gag had been number thirty-one. He and Lazeer had been subjected to listen to Judas Priest, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne and Disturbed for the first hour of the drive to Lincoln County, the second half of their drive had consisted of hearing Hinder, Three Days Grace, Rammstein, Godsmack and the first half of Hollywood Undead, the last song of the latter disc of music had been Black Dahlia, a right good assed tune. After they had exited the tunnel and had seen the sign that had said that Lincoln County was just a mile and a quarter away Bile had turned the music down and had slowed up. He had turned the music off completely after reaching the outskirts of the town of Nordic, had found a parking lot just beside a the abandoned building that use to house a J.C. Penny store then had shut the car off. Hazaar and his younger brother had yanked their seat belts off then had leaped out of the car just before their brother had pulled it to a complete stop which was very dangerous but, he would say if anyone had pointed that out to him, anyone would have done the same as he and his younger brother if they had been driven down a tunnel in a car managed by their older brother who was speeding, going near eighty miles an hour, and who had the radio blasting so loud that the ears would ring after the music was turned down for near an hour. His brother had had his blasted music up so loud that the inside of the car had seemed to take on the role of a heart! He had felt the seats underneath of him pulsing up and down, he had thought he had seen the sides of the inside of the car going in and out and as for the music, he had imagined the music as the beating of a gigantic heart... only this heart had one hell of a medical problem because the beating was so loud and so booming.

The town of Nordic, located on that good old stretch of road called U.S Route 89, that was seven miles from the town of Alpine which had nearly gone extinct after the last plague, had had a population of 602 when the 2010 census had been done but, after the plagues and natural disasters, meaning the droughts and the tornadic activity that the west had gone through over the past few thousand years, the population had dropped to next to nothing fast. After the last plague the town had nearly gone ghost, there had only been one family living in the town and that family had consisted of one adult, a woman in her late forties, and her two sons, both in their twenties. Ten years after the plague people started moving back to the place and Nordic started going back to being the way it had been before the plagues had hit... and then that big light bulb had shown above someone's head to make the place a big city that had just about every damn store one would imagine in it.

That was the main reason why he and his brother's had decided to go to the town in the first place. They hadn't wanted to go to one of the towns that had a handful of stores in it, they hadn't wanted to go to a town that had only one or two stores in it with the rest consisting of residential areas. They had wanted a place with many stores in it, many stores that sold female items like clothing, perfume, jewelry and shoes. Bile had also had a mind to go there because of the women, he had been without a female companion for a while now and was, as he had said on the way to the tunnel that he'd speed through like a maniac, starved of the feeling of having a female to be with for a few hours. He was going to shop for mom too, he had plans to go shopping for something for her as well but only after he had done a little female companion shopping. He and Lazeer were going to concentrate on their mother first then, if they had enough left over, they were going to spend a little on themselves and, if they had anything left over after buying something for their mother and then for themselves they'd look for something for Lhaklar.

They had a hundred and fifty dollars on them, that was enough to buy their mother two dresses, some jewelry and maybe even some shoes or they could buy their mother one of them leather hand bags, a dress and some sort of jewelry. Lazeer was dead-set on buying some sort of jewelry for their mother, he had said right after they had gone to bed that he wanted to buy their mother something pretty, something that would make her look even more beautiful than she was already. He had decided to buy their mother a dress, he was going to decide the color and possibly even the design on what type of jewelry item his brother bought for their mother and then he'd buy something to match it all. Some shoes? Some fancy heels or maybe even some slip-on shoes so their mother's feet didn't ache from the weight being placed nearly on her toes as he knew that heeled shoes made for some to become uncomfortable because the heel elevated the foot. If he couldn't find their mother some shoes, he'd buy her a hand bag. She liked leather, he knew that for sure.

"You both have your communicators, if you need me use them." Bile said as he got out of the car then started walking out of the parking lot. "I suggest you make sure it's a good reason, you know what'll happen if you bother me for no reason when I'm busy with a lady."

"Enjoy the woman-fun, Bile-O." Hazaar said.

"Air the car out when you're done!" Lazeer said loudly. "Last time you didn't, it reeked something awful. Phew! That after sex smell is horrible when it was placed by you."

"I'll just leave the smell to spite you." Bile called back. "We meet at Kentucky Fried Chicken at twelve, no exceptions. Don't make me search for and find you two. Remember, I'm in charge. If ma finds out that I let you two wander around Nordic she'll have a bird and I'll be needing some thread and a needle to stitch up the wounds she makes on my back after she catches me with a thick fabriced dish cloth."

"We'll be sure to make you chase after us." Lazeer said evilly. Bile turned around, looked at his youngest brother for a second and saw that he was joking then turned back around. He walked around the corner and disappeared a few seconds later.

When he and his brother had reached the corner that Bile had disappeared behind and had seen that their older brother was gone he reached into the left side pocket of his coat. He had slid a pack of Kamel Red Smooth Taste cigarettes in his coat pocket before he and his brothers had left the apartment, the guy that he payed to get him his cigarettes had produced four packs, he had surprised him the day before his mother had nearly been abducted at her workplace and they had fought to keep her safe and with them by buying him four packs of cigarettes, the guy that he payed to get him his smokes usually only brought him two packs. He had tried to pay the guy extra for the two extra packs and the guy had said for him to keep his money, that had been damn nice of him. Hazaar took two cigarettes from the pack, put one in his mouth then handed the other to Lazeer. His younger brother didn't hesitate, he took the cigarette, lit it then stuck it in his mouth and began smoking. He made two faces, squinted his eyes then blew a jet of smoke out of his mouth after removing the cigarette.

"If you don't like the cigarette then hand it back." Hazaar barked, his younger brother always made faces when he smoked and it annoyed him to no end!

"I like the cigarette," Lazeer replied. "why do you say that?"

"You keep making faces whenever you smoke," Hazaar said.

"Does it annoy you?" Lazeer fluttered his eyelids in a girlie fashion which further annoyed his brother.

"Hell yeah it does!" Hazaar exclaimed.

"Good, I'll keep making the faces then." Lazeer said, he then walked away from his brother.

He contemplated going in a different direction, splitting off from his annoying little brother and possibly giving him a scare. It was a good idea, his brother sure deserved to be scared half out of his mind but if he separated from his brother he'd have no idea what to buy for their mother to match what Lazeer had bought. He surely didn't want to get her anything that was tacky or anything that wouldn't go along with the item that his brother bought. With the cigarette jutting out from between his lips, Hazaar caught up to his brother. They walked side-by-side for a few minutes then he let his brother take the lead, his brother took him to a store called Kay's. At first, Hazaar thought his brother was crazy, Kay's was known for its good jewelry but it was also known for its expensive prices. A red ruby and diamond necklace, he had seen once on tv, had had a price tag of over a hundred dollars on it, a bracelet that was gold and had diamonds on the band had cost a hundred and ten dollars and he had imagined any sort of rings at the place costing over eighty dollars. He wanted to buy their mother something good, yes, but he also wanted to treat her well by having a sort of outfit to go along with whatever jewelry item that Lazeer bought for her.

"Hello sirs," a pretty, blonde haired saleswoman said as soon as they had entered the store. "if you need any help, I'm available."

"Thank you," Lazeer said politely. "we will if we need assistance with anything."

He went to the side that had the most expensive stuff, he only looked at what was in the cases, he had no intention of buying anything in the store, while his younger brother went to the side that had the least expensive items on it. He saw a necklace that was long, the band was solid gold, about 18-karat's worth of gold was on the band, and there was a diamond and emerald pendant on the end of it in the shape of a heart that he liked a lot... until he saw the price tag of $189.99. Sheesh! Kay's Jeweler's was one hell of an expensive store, there was no way he'd be leaving the store with a bag that had something for his mother in it, his mother deserved something good but she'd not want him breaking the bank for her. He saw a white pearl and bead necklace next that was nineteen inches long but even that was too expensive, the matching bracelet and earrings that were beside it were also ridiculously priced. The red garnet flower drop necklace that was set in sterling silver he liked a lot, he would have gladly bought that for his mother but, as with each item on the side of the store he was on, it was too damn expensive. Hazaar had left his cigarette outside, he had snubbed it out then had placed it behind a trashcan, he decided to head out and grab it. Just as he turned to exit the store he saw that his brother was standing by the cash register, he was buying something from the store and the lady, who was leaning herself over the counter top, her red blouse was slightly open so even he could see the tops of two perky, well tanned breasts, was handing him his change. Hazaar left the store, grabbed his cigarette, re-lit it then waited.

"Awwww... did my owder browdor get jaiwous?" Lazeer said five minutes later when he exited the store.

"Think you took long enough?" Hazaar snapped, he had smoked two cigarettes after finishing the first as he had waited for his brother to exit the store. "What the hell were you doing in there?"

"Talking to that hottie behind he cash register." Lazeer said, he then turned around and waggled his fingers at the woman who waved back flirtily.

"You bought something for mom," Hazaar said, he did feel a little jealous that his brother had pulled a move on a lady... what made it worse was that he had done it right in front of him. "what did you get her?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out at a later time." Lazeer said, he moved the two bags out of reach of his brother then walked on.

That was just too damn unfair! He had hoped to rely on what his brother had bought to make his decision on what he was going to buy for their mother but now that his brother was keeping what he had bought for her to himself he had to either buy something that didn't match or not buy anything at all. Hazaar crossed the street and went into a store that was called Beauty and Beyond. One look was enough to tell him that what he wanted for his mother wasn't in the store, he left it quick then walked down the sidewalk. Lazeer, he saw, was leaned up against the corner of a building. He looked as if he was enjoying himself in watching him having an anxiety attack in finding a place that had something worth his while to go spend a little browsing time in and possibly buy something for their mother. The next two stores he didn't like either, they looked like they had cheap stuff in them and he didn't want to buy anything cheap for his mother. The next store, that had the sign over the door that said Styles for the Occasion on it, was exactly what he was looking for. He went in, shook his shoulders to get over the chilled feeling that had blown over him after he had walked through the door then he started browsing the items that were on the shelves.

"Sir," a tall, pretty, green-eyed woman that had brunette hair tapped him on his shoulder and made him turn around. He had been browsing for all of two minutes, had been really into looking at the dresses and blouses on the shelves and racks, when the woman had come up to him. "you look like you need a little help, may I be of service to you?"

"Weh-... yes, I could use a little help." Hazaar said. "I'm looking for something for my mother, she has real red hair and emerald-green eyes..."

"Sounds like you need to look at the red, purple and blue stuff sweetie." the woman said, she led him over to where the dresses and blouses hung that were of them colors. "What's she like? Tell me a few things about her."

What was his mother like? Why the hell was she asking that? Did this human woman see him and think that he was looking for something for his mother who she perceived as a whore? He would have tore anyone's head off if they would have so much as said that his mother was a slut or a whore, she was neither. She was a respectable, beautiful woman who did like to show her beauty from time to time but didn't flash it out like some ladies did. Hazaar had seen many blonde, black, brunette and red-haired women walking around in skin-tight dresses, stockings and having their faces painted up with what looked like two applications of make-up, curiously them women had also reeked of perfume, the perfume had rolled off of them so heavily that some people simply gave them a wide berth. Those were whores, in his mind, those were ladies who showed it off. Hazaar settled on telling the woman, who was wearing a pair of tight, black slacks, black heels and a purple satin blouse, that his mother was one of a million... which he did, fully and honestly, believe that she was.

"My mother's a wonderful person," he said. "very respectable, very beautiful, doesn't flaunt her looks but so much and she's raised me and my three brothers practically on her own."

"Sounds like a woman that needs a clapping," the woman replied. "do you know your father?"

"I do, yes." Hazaar replied. "My mother... took me and my brothers away after her father threatened her."

"That's horrible!" the woman gasped. "Why did her father threaten her?"

"My younger brother, Lazeer, had been born at five and a half months gestation. She was right stressed out after he had been brought home, the doctors had said he'd not live but so long and she was depressed. Her father decided to open his flapper and say that he was going to take her away from all of us kids." Hazaar replied.

"That is... horrible! What happened to your brother? Lazeer, was it?"

"He's alive, healthy but has problems with his eye." Hazaar replied. "My father just recently found us, we're not too sure about him."

"Take it real slow, I understand why your mother left. She was stressed because of what had happened after your brother was born and then her father added a nice detonation charge on top of it." the woman sighed. "Name's Lily."

"Hazaar," Hazaar replied. "HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit, ma'am."

"You have a very unique name, Hazaar." Lily said, she smiled a pearl-white smile at him which made him feel excited for some reason.

He explained that he wanted something that would make his mother look more beautiful than she was, something that would make others turn to look at her and nothing that looked silly or childish. Lily understood and took him to the back of the store where she showed him two dresses. The first one he didn't like, it was a full purple dress, no designs were on it and it had a professional feel to it. The second dress, which was a dark red pleated dress with a laced top that would only go down to his mother's knees, he bought. The dress cost him $35.95 and then he had found some dark red, slip on shoes that looked as if they matched the dress wonderfully. After he had bought the shoes he found himself having only $4.05, he couldn't buy anything else, he had to save what he had left. As he left the store the woman who had helped him called out to him behind his back, he felt his cheeks go hot as the words _bye cutie pie _rang throughout the store. Lazeer was right where he had left him, leaned up against the building. Hazaar ran across the street to join him soon after leaving the store that he had just bought the dress and shoes from for his mother.

"Mom'll be damn happy with what I bought her." he said upon reaching his younger brother.

"What'd you get her?" Lazeer asked.

"You'll find out after she takes what I bought for her out of the bags." Hazaar replied.

"Got anymore cigarettes?" Lazeer asked after a minute of silence.

"Yeah, plenty more."

"Can I snark one from you?"

"For a dollar, yes."

"Dude! Come one!" Lazeer exclaimed.

"Surely, Mr. Rich-Pants, you have a dollar to spare." Hazaar said.

"What's wrong, spend all your dough in that store?" Lazeer asked.

"Yes and for a fine cause. My mother." Hazaar said, he then began walking down the sidewalk.

Bile had spent his fifty dollars rather quickly on his mother, he found something in a store that he thought she'd go crazy for and had gone in and purchased it without a second thought. He had just lost his senses when he had seen the light tan suede leather hand bag that had tassels hanging down from the middle and a short shoulder strap, the price tag had said $49.50 and he had added the tax quickly in his head afterwards, after he had found himself a few cents short he had exited the store and had gone sidewalk shopping for change that the humans tossed or dropped and had decided to not bother picking up. He had found a nickel, a dime, ten pennies and then he had found three whole dollars after five minutes then he had returned to the store and had bought the bag. After he had done his purchase he had decided to go and sit in one of them areas set off for wary travelers to sit and rest up. He had sat down behind a woman who had not been watching her bag, she had been too busy fussing over some man on her cellular phone so he had carefully reached into her purse and had taken the twenty-dollar bill that had just been lying out in the open, waiting for someone to take. After he had taken the twenty-dollar bill he had stood up, stretched then had walked over and sat behind another woman, this one had a child and was having a time in getting him to behave. He had slipped a ten-dollar bill from her bag then had gotten up and walked away. He then snuck fifty dollars more, in five and ten-dollar bills, from women who were not watching their bags and then he decided to get his ass out of the rest area before someone started making a ruckus over someone taking advantage of their not paying attention to their things. It must have been his lucky day because, soon after, he stepped on a roll of cash that had just been lying near the street. He had found twenty dollars in five dollar bills, all wrapped up, it was a little soggy but he'd be able to dry it and use it.

A hundred and three dollars, he was loaded with a hundred and three dollars worth of tens, twenties, single dollar bills and five dollar bills. He could buy his mother something good with all that he had collected, he could even buy his brothers something if he wanted to. Soon after he got away from the rest area he went to work in spending what he had collected. He bought his mother a full set of jewelry, a necklace that had fake gold coins hanging from it, two earrings that matched, a single, false gold, bracelet and then he found and bought her a ring. The ring had cost him the most at thirty dollars, it was a size seven, big enough to fit his mother's index finger, and it had a coiled snake design on it that was covered in red and pink rubies, the eyes of the snake were emerald. The jewelry set had cost him twenty dollars, he still had fifty-three dollars left over. Seeing as he had been shopping for nearly two hours, how the time had passed him was beyond him but it had and he was growing a bit bored with shopping so he went straight to his mother's car, placed his purchases in the trunk then left the parking lot to do a little female companion shopping.

He was one who liked his women having petite bodies and long hair, he most preferred dark hair on his female companions but he was also fond of the blondes. He stayed away from the red-haired women, he just got that feeling when he was with one of them that he was committing a crime. His mother had red hair, his female companion had red hair, he was conceived through incest... he did not blame his mother at all for the latter! If one would have insulted his mother for having a son by her own father he would have blown that person's head off! His mother, he knew, had had no say in what had happened, his father had forced himself on her and had kept her locked up in his bedroom in his palace on Gamma-Vile. Bile knew that his mother had been pregnant by his father once before he had been conceived and that that baby had been aborted, he didn't blame his mother for that either. Sure, he valued life highly. Sure, he thought bad of abortion but... incest was wrong. It caused for the offspring to have mental problems and possibly even be born with physical defects. A father should not be allowed to mate with his daughter, same for a mother with her son or with a brother mating with his sister. It was wrong, that was why people married and had kids with people that were outside of the family. It kept the genetic pool clean and fresh, the genes that made children that had parents of non-relation were much more pure than that of children conceived through incest. Bile didn't think much of his mother mating and feeling a sense of love towards his adopted father, although Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer had double Surfeit genes their father was not closely related to their mother. He was a step behind and, besides, his mother was not related. Ashaklar Zoopray was not related to their mother, DuruVile Surfeit was but Ashaklar Zoopray had done no part in adding her genome to their mother's code of genetics.

Bile walked into a bar, flashed his fake I.D. then took up a seat at the counter. He ordered a Budweiser, one of his preferred drinks, then set down to looking for a female to be with for a few hours. His mother had once told him that his great-great grandfather, ShaamVile Klondike Surfeit, was a womanizer. ShaamVile Surfeit had personally said that he had slept with over a hundred women and, after his mother had brought him back from being in limbo, he had been abstinate for all of six or seven months before his eye had caught the woman that his great-grandson, and his adopted father, had captured and had placed in a separate cell from the men in his ship. Lisa Wahlberg, that had ad been her name and boy had his great-great grandfather fucked with her mind good. His great-great granddaddy had mated with the woman, he had said he'd not hurt her and then he had dumped her. She had gotten away after his mother had grabbed her and had taken her and a friend of hers to a place that was no longer around called the Command Center then, after his mother had collected him and his brother, both who had been very young babies at the time, the two had gone back to Egypt to be with Atlas and his tribe. His mother and Lisa Wahlberg had been captured a few months later and had been taken to his grandfather's fortress home on Gamma-Vile, Lisa had been subjected to his great-great grandfather's advances and had been forced to sleep with him and his mother had been forced to get to know the members of her family. Lisa Wahlberg had been rescued when Granny D and her crew had gone to his grandfather's place to attempt a rescue, Dione, Perniceie and Azura had all been injured, all pretty badly, but they had come off with rescuing Lisa... his mother and they had been left behind though. Sadly, with his great-great grandfather's constant coming-on's to Ms. Wahlberg, she had caught pregnant... and had given birth to a son that she had given away to a family outside of Atlas' tribe eight and a half months later. She had wanted nothing to do with the child and she didn't want anyone that she knew to be burdened by the child either. It was hard to understand why Ms. Lisa Wahlberg, who was still alive and well, had given away her child, his mother had said that it had something to do with all of what his great-great grandfather had done to her. When he had asked his mother if she would have done the same she had yelled out hell no... then she had sat down and had told him about the child she had had in her before she had had him in her stomach. She had been sorry for what she had done, she had told him that she couldn't see herself without any of her sons now and he had gotten up from the table, walked up to her and had wrapped her up in a comforting hug, he had even nuzzled his head up against hers to further comfort her. After he had comforted her he had said that he was glad he was her only child by... their father. He was glad to have Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer for his brothers, he'd feel damn happy if she caught pregnant again by his adopted father and had another sibling by that man but... he was glad that she hadn't had any further children by the man who had tried to, and had actually succeeded in doing so for only a few minutes, kill her and who had tried to take her from all of her children and from the man who treated her damn well.

"On me," Bile said when a pretty, brunette haired woman who looked in her mid-twenties walked up and asked for a Bud Lite.

"Get real,"

Must be with someone, Bile thought. Women usually said that when they weren't interested, he had never pushed a woman for companionship and, unlike his great-great grandfather, he didn't go crazy with the ladies. He only went for female companionship once a month and, sometimes, he went up to three months before deciding to look for a female companion and he didn't just hop in a bed, have a go then hop out and say bye-bye. He spent a little time afterwards with his companion, maybe made her a meal or listened to her as she told him her troubles or, if he had any cash on him, he'd take her out for a little outing. He knew better than to use a woman for her body, he liked sex and he liked women but dammit he wasn't going to use a woman for her body. If he found someone he liked and if that someone didn't shove him away he'd sit and talk with her first, he'd talk to her in a real way and not in one of them oh, you're so hot, look at your ass type of ways which he knew some women got uncomfortable with then, if the woman was interested, if she gave him the signs that she was interested in him like being overly flirty or overly touchy, he'd ask if she wanted to go someplace... which was the nice way to ask if she wanted to leave the location and spend some time together in a room.

Some men in bars when they saw a lady that they were interested in walked up and threw something on the counter then said _hey gorgeous, it's all on me_, some men even walked up and slapped the woman that they were interested in on the ass and some men even grabbed a woman and turned her around to facing them. He didn't like any of them methods, being told to back off or get real was better than getting a slap in the face or worse... a kick in the nuts or having the lady's partner run over and start a fight, he preferred the nice, slow approach which was smart and safe. Approach a lady nicely, you got better results, approach a lady in a mean and rough fashion you're bound to have trouble. Bile looked down the bar and saw a woman leaned back on her stool, she was wearing a cream-colored dress that was open on the top slightly that was medium-length and she had matching heels on her feet. The woman had dark blonde hair and, from his seat which was five places from her, she looked to have blue eyes. He stuck his neck out, he slid a five dollar bill to the bar tender then asked for the man to send the woman a drink which he did. The woman, after she got his sent-over drink, got up and walked over to him.

"Hi there handsome," the woman said after she had seated herself beside him. She then pointed to the drink that he had sent her. "business or pleasure?"

"Neither, miss. I never send drinks for business or pleasure." Bile replied.

"Jerry said you had sent the drink." the woman said.

"I did, yes." Bile replied. "Looked thirsty over there."

"What's your name sweetheart?"

"Bile,"

"Bile? Odd name for one who looks so handsome."

"Ever hear of a woman named Angel Irene?" Bile asked, he always had to give a small explanation of why he had been named Bile to every lady he met and had an interest in.

"Yes, the heroine. She put up the shields to keep all of us safe."

"She's my mother."

"No wonder, I've heard stories that she was raped by her father. Is that true?"

"Very, I'm the product of one of them rapings." Bile replied.

"I read in the paper that she lives in Green River, is that true?"

"It is, me and my three younger brothers live with her." Bile replied. "She's a fine woman, raised all us kids well. None of us have done a thing bad in our lives."

"That's good, I'd hate to report you to the law."

"Don't do that!" Bile had detected a playfulness in the woman's last sentence and he decided to play off of that. "I just got out of the insane asylum. That wrap-up jacket was not cool or comfortable, they gave me shots in the ass and then locked me up in a padded room that had no lights in it."

Sometimes acting playful worked wonders in making a woman's nerves drop, Bile joked around a few times, told the woman some more about his upraising, his education and about his brothers and then he sat back and listened to the woman as she told him a little about her. Her name was Gracie, she was twenty-five years old, single and had two younger sisters and an older brother. She was in college, looking to get a job in fashion, and had been coming to the bar that he and she were in for years as a way to relax and regroup. Gracie had two cats and a hamster named Brutus and she lived in her very own apartment in the town nearest Nordic. That was good information to know, especially about the apartment. In their talking, Bile had one more Budweiser then he asked if Gracie wanted anything else to drink which she replied with _not sure yet, is the faucet still dripping? _which made him laugh lightly. After ten minutes of talking, he decided to pop out the question on whether or not the lady wanted a little extra time with him.

"So, have anything you're doing for the next hour and a half to two hours?" he asked.

"No, I'm free. What about you?"

"Free as a jaybird, ma'am."

"You drive? I had a friend drop me off." Gracie asked.

"I have a car, my mother let me borrow her Buick Lucerne this morning for a few hours."

"That sounds like an old car..."

"My mother found it, she fixed it up very well and it runs very finely." Bile said.

"Take me to it."

Her apartment was located just inside the town of Alpine which was south of Nordic, the drive there had been nice, Gracie had liked riding beside him and she had even ran her hand down between his legs twice before running it back up to his chest. He had let her chose the radio station, he had let her chose the radio's volume and he had even let her have one of the cigarettes he had snuck out from Lhaklar's stash after his brother had gone to freshen up in the bathroom that was on the level that their shared bedroom was on earlier that morning. He had three joints with him and a small quarter baggy in his pocket which he was keeping the knowledge of to himself, he was also keeping what he had left over from his shopping to himself as well. Once he had pulled up to her apartment and had gotten out of the car he found himself having a problem. Gracie leaped at him, asked him to carry her which he did then, once he had her in her apartment she went crazy with her hands and mouth. His coat was torn off of him, his shirt that was ripped at the chest and stomach was pulled off of him then Gracie undid his pants. She must have decided that the trip to her bedroom would take too long because she shoved him on her light brown velor couch. He had no more sat upright before she had jumped onto his lap. Bile forgot all about meeting Hazaar and Lazeer at the Kentucky Fried Chicken right quick afterwards.

"Wonder what Bile's doing." Lazeer said. "Been near three hours since we separated."

"So what, he's probably entertaining someone." Hazaar said. "The car's missing, did you notice that?"

"I did,"

"How much you got left on you? I have less than five dollars on me."

"Thirty-five buckaroodies my good brother." Lazeer replied. "Enough to buy something for myself and Lhaklar and something for lunch as well."

"Lucky shit, you're still rich and I'm dirt poor."

"You have your cigarettes."

"So fuckin' what! What's a smoke going to do to get a few bucks?" Hazaar exclaimed.

"Sell a few for a dollar or t-..."

"No one will buy cigarettes off of someone they don't know you idiot!" Hazaar shoved past his brother then walked around the corner and disappeared.

Lazeer shook his head after his brother had left him, he had had another of his anger spells and had not only gone off in a huff but he had also left his bags behind. As he bent down to grab the two bags, he thought about his own troubles with the phase that his mother had said was normal. His brother had woken up with a serious chip on his shoulder a few hundred years ago and he had yet to get rid of it, he had woken up being a bit more on the moodier side that he usually was a hundred and thirty years ago and, although he had his moments of when he let his temper get the better of him and he slapped things around, yelled out in anger or got into unneccessary fights with his brothers, he was having a better go with the temperamental phase than his older brother was. Why was that? His mother had said that everyone reacts in different fashions to the phase, some people got particularly violent, like Bile had been when he had gone through the phase, some people were effected in a medium-fashion, like Lhaklar when he had gone through the phase, and some people were in between the two, that was Hazaar, he had broken a few windows and had had a few episodes where he had been violent but their mother had always gotten him under control and fast, and then there were the people who experienced the phase in a lesser fashion.

He was between the lesser fashion and the medium-fashion when it came to the temperamental phase. He had snapped a few times at his mother, he had snapped a bunch of times at his brothers and he had slapped quite a few things off of their places on the tables or kitchen counter tops. He had walked in on his mother showering a few weeks ago and had gotten annoyed for some reason and that had sparked him to slap the bottle of shampoo off of its place on the shelf that it had been on. Naturally, his mother had said for him to get his buns out of the bathroom and pronto but, afterwards, she had come out, gotten dressed then had asked him if he was alright which, at that time, he had gone from his annoyed mood to being in a depressed mood. His mother had said that, along with an elevation in being extra angry, he'd also experience some periods of extreme sadness and some periods of confusing happiness as well.

He had not yet experienced the elevated happiness thing, but he had experienced the extreme bouts of sadness. He was depressed over the fact that he couldn't go outside unless the sun was hidden behind thick, ugly, gray clouds because his eye couldn't take the rays of the sun but... he was experiencing quite a lot of depression for other reasons that normally, he'd not be depressed over. Seeing a butterfly had made him cry for no reason, he had never gotten emotional over a silly bug before. Seeing a mouth had made him sniffle a few times and that was odd because, just like the butterfly, he had no emotional ticks over bugs. They were bugs to him, cool things that one could hold and joke about, not things that made one cry or sniffle. Seeing a red car had also gotten him emotional, why he had no reason. He had asked his mother one day after he had broken down after seeing a commercial about a man walking with a toddler in his arms on one of them ocean liners that was promoting some sort of deal if his emotions were a saying for him to be something other than straight.

Naturally, he knew that if he had gone gay or stayed straight his mother would have accepted and still loved him. She had told him that, typically, at his age one would show the signs of being something other than straight and then she had said that he was quite possibly experiencing a bout of extreme sadness provoked by the phase that he was going through. He had tested himself afterwards to see if he had an attraction to the same-sex by looking at a magazine that had all male models in it. He had felt not a damn bit of attraction or had felt anything spark up when he had seen one of the models posing half-naked and he had been disgusted when he had seen a full naked male model. He had tested himself right after looking at the male's magazine by sneaking one of Hazaar's girl nudie magazines, he was straight. He had creamed himself just by looking at the magazine Hustler, the female models had been gorgeous, either half-naked or fully naked and they had aroused him so much that he had cast all doubt of his sexuality to the curb. He had no problems with gay or lesbian or bi-sexual folk and he had no issues with asexual folk, everyone had a right to be what they wanted to be whether it was straight, gay, bi-sexual or asexual or to remain the gender that they had been born as and no one had any right to say otherwise. Lazeer decided to check around, look at the sidewalk or in the gutter for some coin or some cash or look out for some lady who wasn't paying attention to what was going on with their purses.

"Hey there," he said to a blonde haired woman, the woman turned and looked at him, made a face then turned back around. He had noticed that this woman had two purses on her and that she was on the phone with someone. Must be pretty damn important because she never noticed that he slid his periwinkle-colored hand that had fingers that had suction-cups on each of their ends into her brown bag and pulled out her wallet. He helped himself, took out a fifty and then a twenty-dollar bill then he slid the wallet back into her bag. He walked away and went to a different place. A woman was having a time with her toddler and her infant that looked no more than three months old, he slipped a twenty-dollar bill from her purse then walked off. He decided to leave it at that, ninety dollars was enough and he did not like stealing. He knew it was wrong but... he did want to make his older brother happy and if he had a little money on his person then maybe he would be.

"One of your father's staff was the first to get to me after the water broke," she had told him one day a few hundred years ago. "Kalach Speelin, his name was. I screamed because my water had broken much too early in my pregnancy then he ran up to see what was going on. Your father ran up soon after and I was taken to the hospital."

"Was it just that one guy that ran up or were there others?" he had asked.

"About five others ran up, two maids and three butlers. One was a newbie, a fellow named Jikon Cjup. He had not a clue as to what to do so he had stood back while everyone else was fussing over me." his mother had replied. "Kalach had just gotten me to sit down on the steps when your father ran up. Your father heard the word water and broke then scooped me up, I don't think his feet touched the floor in his mad dash out of his mansion."

He had been told that it had just been his father at the start who had been at the hospital, his mother had told him that he had just slid out then had been handed over to be held, the doctor's had taken him away after he had been named and had slid him into a pod after hooking up all the IV's and tubes to his body and that was where he had remained for three weeks before the doctor's had said for his parents to take him home. His mother had said that he had been given a two-day lifespan after leaving the hospital... he wondered what them doctor's would say now if they saw him for who he was today. Was he weak? Was he deformed or mentally handicapped like the doctor's had said he'd become? Hell no! He was six feet tall, weighed a hundred and eighty-one pounds and was damn fine in the muscle department. His body was lean, he had a good, hard chest and a nicely developed six-pack and he had good-formed muscle on his arms and legs. His back... well he was working on that. It had some muscle on it but not much, he wanted to have some more muscle on his back because he thought it looked a little too slender.

He found Hazaar leaning up against a pole a short while later, he was banging his head up against the pole every few seconds and his deep purple, large oval eyes that were slightly slanted were nearly closed shut. Lazeer crouched low as he walked forward, he had always enjoyed stalking and then jumping out to give one of his brothers a little scare, it was his favorite past-time. He wondered if his father had figured out who he was, the last article had said that his father was running some sort of test to see if he was related to his two full-brothers. Would his father put two-and-two together afterwards or would he still be wondering who he was? His mother had said that his father was a right smart man... a right smart name who couldn't figure out who he was? His mother had given clues that the newspaper people had put together and had somewhat figured out, it had even been pointed out by the people that did the newspapers that his real name of Lazeer Zuluduz Surfeit was, spelled backwards, Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus to his father... was his father that confused or did he truly think that his thirdborn son had died? He, like Hazaar, did feel some fear towards the man. He knew him only as the word, TazirVile Surfeit was his father. He didn't know him personally, he didn't know if he abused his kids or if he only used his kids as a way to get sympathy. His father was rich, he had been told, could his father be one of them rich snobs that made kids but shoved them off on the hired help? Oh hell, he'd think about all this shit later! He had scaring his older brother to do, that was more important than thinking up about how his father was. Lazeer sprang forward, yelled out boo then shoved his brother from the pole. Hazaar jumped high then, after his brother had pushed him, fell to his side in the gutter.

"Lazeer! You idiot!" Hazaar exclaimed. "There's cars driving by! I could have been killed!"

"You look ill to me," Lazeer said, he moved the four bags that he had in his left hand from that hand to the other. "look a tab bit less dark blue in the face. You been eating your veggies? You know how ma's been getting on you to eat them vegetables."

"I'll make you eat my fist!"

Lazeer took off running, he ran by several humans, crossed a street then headed for an alley. He turned around soon after he had reached the alley and that was when he found himself in a pickle. Hazaar, looking about ready to explode like a raging volcano, had been forced to wait for the light to turn then he had charged through the humans that had been crossing at the same time he had been then had followed him. When he saw him, simply standing with the four bags in his hand, he lost it. He forgot who his brother was, he ran at his brother, flattened him to his back then started wailing on him with his fists. Lazeer threw the bags to the side, out of reach of his mad brother, then began fighting him back. He threw five punches then kicked his knee up, Hazaar jumped off of him then grabbed him by the collar of his coat. Hazaar was two inches shorter than he but he was just as strong as he was and, like he, when he was mad that strength became mightier. Lazeer felt his brother's fists as they collided with his face and stomach. After a few minutes of being pounded on, Lazeer got up then grabbed his brother's fists. He swung his brother around then held him close to him... he tried to calm him down but there was just no way, Hazaar was just too damn mad. Hazaar kicked his leg back, his heel collided with his crotch and he fell back.

"Ow man!" Lazeer yelled, he dropped to his knees then clamped his hands between his legs. The cords in his neck stood out prominently as he fought the pain that he was feeling. "You made them go north for the winter!"

"You asked for it." Hazaar rolled his shoulders then stood up. He went and grabbed the two bags that he had left behind with his brother then stood and watched as Lazeer fell to his side then began rolling back and forth.

He had been so preoccupied with dancing and making money off of shaking his body that he had totally forgotten about lunch. He had made better than what he had thought he would make at Kale's World, after paying the $30 dance floor fee he had come out of the building with a little over three hundred dollars in his wallet. He had then teleported straight to Kemmerer city that was in Lincoln County where he knew his three brothers had gone, he had contemplated using his communicator to find where they were and meet up sometime after he had danced and made a little more money but, again, he had let the music and the mood take over him and had forgotten all about it. He had made what he had thought he'd make at Rail's, the club where he had danced his ass off for nearly three hours, and then he had found that two ladies had wanted a private dance from him. He had gone into the back room and had done their requested private dance, had even stripped naked for them, and that had made him a hundred dollars more than what he had thought he'd make at that place. He had left Rail's with his money, seven hundred and eighty-nine dollars had joined the three hundred and eleven dollars that he had made at Kale's World then he had gone to the last club he had planned to go to that day.

The Naughty or Nice club that was in Powell city, which was a part of Park County, had not been an inside club like he had thought it would be. It had been an outside club. People walked or jumped up, undressed on big, wooden platforms that had steel poles or rails or both attached to them and they did make quite a hell of a lot of money while doing so. He had been reluctant at first, outside dancing was not in his bag, he preferred to keep his dancing inside where he thought it was safe, but then, after he had seen the ladies tossing their earned monies into the air he had changed his mind. He had one thousand, one hundred dollars in his wallet, he could well double that at the Naughty or Nice club, after a few minutes of thinking it over he had taken up his position at the platform. The money had started being tossed as soon as he had done his first hip shake. A twenty here, a fifty there, a hundred-dollar bill... he had even seen two ladies throw him two fifties and a one hundred-dollar bills at the same time. The ladies had really enjoyed his routine... until he had removed his clothes to expose the Tarzan cloth that he had underneath. The guy at the club, a Greg Bishop, had said that he had never seen as many ladies run to see what was going on or seen as many drinks being served as he had when he had danced. It was 1:35 in the afternoon and here he sat in a small setting, shivering his just dressed ass off, counting what he had made at the club that he had just finished dancing at.

"I just made Lazeer's getting his glass happen!" Lhaklar thought excitedly. "Oh shit! I made seven hundred and twenty-five dollars here, that combined with my one thousand, one hundred makes one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five then add the four hundred that me and mom have saved up and we have... two thousand, two hundred and twenty-five dollars. Oh shit!"

In one day he had made enough to make what his youngest brother wanted happen. Merry Christmas, Lazeer, he'd say upon seeing his younger brother walk into the apartment. You get your glass you annoying little cuss! Lhaklar grabbed his jacket, slid that over him then decided to unbutton the first four buttons on his shirt. He slid his wallet into the pocket he had sewn into his shirt then took out his cigarette case, he took out one of the Black Devils that he had in his case, lit it then started smoking it then placed his cigarette case back inside his shirt. He had a few more hours before having to go home, he could now rest and relax, do some hunting, fish in a river or maybe even look for a woman to keep him company for an hour or two. He thought hard on the latter, was near to chosing it then decided against it. He had said that he was going to do some hunting and fish some earlier that morning to his mother, she'd be suspicious if he had no deer or moose or a stringful of fish with him when he got home. With the cigarette jutting out from between his lips Lhaklar teleported from Powell city. He went straight to Converse County, to where the sign that shouted out to everyone who drove up that the area was called Medicine Bow National Forest, which was a section of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest that was a U.S. Forest Service managed area that extended a full 2,222,313 acres. The section that he was in, Medicine Bow National Forest, extended 1,096,891 acres.

The Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest consisted of three parts, the Routt National Forest which spanned 1,125,438 acres, the Medicine Bow National Forest, which was 1,096,891 acres, and the Thunder Basin National Grassland which spanned 547,620 acres. All three areas had been merged in 1955 due to similarity in their resources, their proximity to each other and, of course, for administrative purposes. There was a wide variety of game animals at the site. Elk, Mule-deer, Moose, White-tailed deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Bighorn Sheep and Black bear, one could also hunt turkey at Thunder Basin National Grassland if they wanted to. If he wanted to, he could bag himself a moose and a turkey but he decided to keep it at just the moose or the deer and catch a string of ten fish afterwards. Lhaklar stomped his foot down on the ground, made a ground spear shoot up then grabbed it. He then started off, heading in the direction of the trees which could be hiding a moose or a deer. As he was walking forward slowly he remembered the time when his mother had taken him to a place that she had called the South Steens.

His mother had been training him, teaching him how to use his transformational abilities and she had decided, after he had mastered most of the animals on the planet, that he should learn how to transform into a horse. She had told him that it was not only important on how to know how to transform, but also how to act like the animal that he would change into. Although, whenever he transformed into any animal, he'd always be a mint-green color and he'd always be male, he did need to know how to act like the animal as it could throw off his attackers... or make them slow up long enough for him to get away. She had decided to take him to one of the wild horse managed areas to learn how a horse acted. The South Steens Horse Management Area was known well for having wild horses of color. There were sorrels and palominos, there were blacks and bays, there were duns and grullos and there were roans and there were pintos of all them colors. The area was 127,000 of rugged, high desert country that was grassy in areas, barren in others, areas that had thick, juniper trees and bunchgrass that was growing within sagebrush growing on them and then there were areas where there were lava rocks strewn about that had made the horses have some fine, nature provided, hooves. There were streams, ponds, man-made culverts and basins and there were also the mineral holes where the horses went to get natures best nutrients. He had studied how the studs pranced, how they snorted and how they fought when it came to protecting their family groups and how they acted towards the mares, the colts and fillies and how they also acted in a cool fashion towards young bachelor studs. A few weeks after he had studied their behavior and had gotten a pretty good idea on how to "blend in" with a herd of wild horses his mother had said for him to try to change into a horse.

His first attempt had gone horribly wrong. He had transformed into a half-Zetakin, half-horse creature that had looked so wrong that it near made him cry when he had looked at his reflection in the lake that was nearby. He had changed back to his true form then had sat down. A stallion had moved his band up closer and he gave quite a lot of thanks to that fine, old boy because, if it had not been for him and his prancing, rearing and stud-like ways he would not have tried transforming into a horse again. He had looked at the stallion, a marvelous animal that stood nearly fifteen hands tall that had had a thick neck, a thin yet magnificent mane that had been a creamy color and whose color, his mother had said to him after he had successfully changed into a horse, was a palomino with extreme showing of sabino characteristics. The stallion had had a faded yellow head and neck, the withers and chest had been a dark yellow while the middle part of the horse on down to the hindquarters had been a combination of faded yellow and crisp, dark yellow with white hairs intermingled. He had had three white patches on his right side that had declared him a pinto horse and his hindquarters had been a dark yellow color with quite a lot of white hairs intermingled among the yellow. His mane and tail, the latter looking like it needed to be brushed good because it had been all tangled up, had been a creamy color and, as if to make the stallion look even more unique, he had had two, ice blue eyes. After he had seen the stallion, with his multi-colored herd of sorrels, palominos, pintos and black mares and their foals, he had transformed into a yearling stud colt.

He heard a crunching sound and stopped, the muscle in his arms flexed, he was ready for anything that came out whether it was a moose or a hare. He had been taught to only use his transformational powers when he had to when he was hunting, his mother had said that she had only used her transformational powers when things were dire, she had explained that if she had done any hunting when things were not dire she got that feeling that she was cheating and, when he had done one hunt while in a different form he had felt that as well. Lhaklar moved once, a small step to the side and that was when the thing that had made the sound moved out from behind the juniper overgrowth. It was a big bull moose, the rack was big so he'd have a trophy if he felled it and there would be plenty of meat for his family if he bagged the moose before he high-tailed it for a safer location. Lhaklar drew his arm back then threw it forward, his ground spear penetrated the bull moose in the side, the moose honked then turned. He was quick, he made two more ground spears shoot up from the ground then he threw them. The first thrown ground spear missed the moose, the second hit the moose in the neck and that was what got the moose to fall.

"Yeeeeeeaaaaah! Lhaklar prevails bitches!" he yelled after he had ran up to his kill. "Lhaklar provides for the family! He made enough for his baby brother's goggled glass and he bagged a big moose! Woooo hoooo!"

He set to work right away, he collected the antlers then cut the moose open. He had placed a few plastic bags in his brown duffel bag before he had left home, he took each out and placed the organs; the liver, kidneys, heart and then the lungs in one bag then went in to start cutting the fur off of the carcass. He used his hunting knife, a stainless steel knife that had a forged patterned steel leather cord braided handle that was light brown, to get the fur off of the animal then he placed the fur skin down on the ground, skin up so the air could dry the skin that he had left underneath the fur. He then started cutting chunks of meat from the animal, he placed the smaller chunks of meat in one plastic bag while the medium and large chunks of meat that he cut off of the moose he put in two other bags. When he was done he stood up, he had quite a lot with him now and decided to teleport it all to the cellar where it would be kept cool as the cellar, when no one was home, got rather chilly. He jabbed his arms down then swung them, the ground underneath the bags of meat, collected organs, antlers and moose pelt flipped. With the items he had wanted to collect from the moose safe at home, he left the remains of his kill behind him, a coyote quickly ran up and began eating soon after he walked off.

"Over two thousand dollars in my wallet, a good few weeks worth of venison waiting underneath the house and now heading off to do some fishing. Can this day get any better?" Lhaklar thought happily to himself.

He walked for thirty minutes, the sun warmed him up some but due to there being no trees around it didn't matter, the temperature felt as if it had dropped ten degrees since he had arrived at the reserve. He saw several deer, a moose with her weanling kids and then he saw a few turkeys which, after noticing them walking about he decided to go on and get one of them as well. His family had not had a turkey for the human holiday of Thanksgiving and, although he thought turkey meat was right dry and scratchy, he did think that his mother would like to have something new to cook. He drew up a rock knife by punching his arm down at the ground then, once the knife had shot up from the cold ground, he threw it. After the rock knife caught one of the turkeys on the side he ran over, he made the turkey appear in the cellar beside the bags of meat, collected organs, antlers and moose pelt that he had collected from the moose earlier. After he had sent the turkey to the apartment he went straight for the river that was called Emcampment River, which was located entirely in the area that he was in.

All he wanted was maybe eight to ten fish, that was it, his mother had said for him to not bring the entire population of fish in the water source that he decided to fish in and he was dead-set on obeying her order. Lhaklar shot out a small stream of white acid from his right hand then made a stream of water form around it with his other hand. He made the water freeze around the acid to make a line then he grabbed a sturdy stick, after he wrapped his just-made line around the stick he grabbed a rock. With his Elemental Ground power he made the rock become a hook by making the rock crumble slightly, he made the remains of the rock bend then strengthen into a sickle shape then strengthen a little more at the end where he had made a small portion of the rock-hook curve inwards. He attached the hook to the line after he had made it then threw it into the water. At once, he began flicking his wrist up and down to make the hook become more attractive. He had learned how to do this by watching a fishing program a few hundred years before, it was called Fly Fishing. The hook being thrown into the water then yanked back out then thrown back in was a human's way to imitate insects flying, landing and then flying off again on the surface of the water and boy, did them humans ever land some nice-assed fish! He had tried Noodling once, where one would use their hands or feet to fish out Catfish that were hiding in holes where they were protecting their young, and he had not liked that much. Some fish had teeth, others had very strong mouths that did hurt when they clamped down on a hand, foot or worse, the fingers or toes. The fins were also sharp, one could really get a bad cut if they touched them fins the wrong way. Soon after Lhaklar had thrown then yanked out his rock-made hook then let it settle back in the water a Rainbow Trout snatched it up. He made a circle of water form around the fish then made it fly towards him. He had brought a short length of rope with him and, soon after landing the fish, he tied the fish on the rope then threw the line back in.

"Four Rainbow Trout, two good-sized Cutthroat Trout, three Brown Trout and one, ugly Brook's Trout." Lhaklar said two hours later. He then turned around and grabbed the fish that he had just caught. "And my personal favorite that I'm getting mounted, Mr. big ol' Black Bullhead catfish."

The last fish he had caught by surprise, he had let his line fall into the water after he had taken the third Brown Trout off of the hook and had near lost his line, hook and the stick after the catfish had snatched the hook up. He had grabbed the stick just in time then had yanked the line up, the fish had nearly broken the stick twice in his fight to get it to the surface and when he had gotten it to the surface he had been almost in knee-high water. The fish was dark brown, had a yellow underbelly and it had a barbels located near its mouth, a broad head, spiny fins and the fish was smooth, it had no scales at all on its body. There was a tan crescent around the tail, the barbels were black and the caudal fin was squared off at the tip. If he had to guess, this beast of a fine fish weighed a good four pounds, a pretty good, damn catch and he was going to have it mounted up on a board and placed up on his wall.

His mother would be making fish salad, fish steak, he and his brothers would be grilling fish one day in the week and hell... he might also ask if his mother could make up a new dish that he had seen on tv called a Fishcake. He had written the recipe down, it consisted of filleted fish and potato patty that could either be coated in breadcrumbs or batter. His mother would have to do some frying as the dish was cooked that way but, from what he had seen on tv, the dish had looked rather good. He was game to try out anything new and his mother was a fabulous cook! He could now see himself eating one of her just taken out of the frier Fishcakes, he'd most probably be purring and wishing that the Fishcake that he had finished would reappear in his hand. With the thought of his mother cooking him up some Fishcakes, of her making fish salad, fish steak and of him and his brothers grilling up some fish and of his plan to get his Black Bullhead fish mounted on his wall, Lhaklar grabbed his string of fish and teleported back home. He had a few more hours before his mother would be back, by then he'd have the fish cleaned and stored in the freezer and the moose meat all prepped, wrapped in Reinold's wrap and also put in the freezer and himself all rested up from what he believed was one hell of a fine day. He was just about to start whistling as he stepped onto the sidewalk that led to the front door of the apartment that he and his family lived in when he saw that the front door was wide open.


	29. Chapter 29

Their mother had told them to have their keys on them to the apartment and he had his, had his brothers returned hom before him and forgotten to close the door? Lhaklar looked at the driveway, if Bile, Hazaar and Lazeer had returned home the car would be parked there. Their mother's Buick Lucerne was not in the drive way, it was not on the curb and it was not driving towards him either. Had the car had problems and his brothers decided to leave it behind and teleport home? Lhaklar looked at the apartment, the regal blue, pintuck drapes were pulled over the living room window, the light blue drape was pulled over the kitchen window that overlook the sink and the dark green drape that he and Bile had decided to put up over the window to their shared room was also covering the window. His brothers would have opened the drapes, his brothers would have closed the door after entering the apartment and the car would be in the drive way if they had returned before he had. Lhaklar moved the string of fish from his left hand then swung that hand over the concrete sidewalk. A portion of the sidewalk rose, crumbled then fell away to expose a Don Collins cigar box. He picked the box up, opened it then took out his finger knives that he had placed inside it for safekeeping. He slid each finger knife on a finger of his left hand, wiggled his fingers to make sure that they were on good then he walked towards the apartment.

It was an upstairs, downstairs apartment, the shutters and window sills were painted brown while the rest of the apartment was a cream color. Their mother had notified the county office after she had moved the apartment to the location she had picked on Forest Hill Dr., that she and they had moved in and that she had moved an apartment onto the plot of empty land that had a sidewalk on it, a concrete slab in the back and a few pipes jutting out from the ground. An electrician had come to do all the hook-ups, a water man had come to get the pipes all hooked up and the petroleum man had come to get the gas lines all squared away then someone from the county had come to check the foundation then they had been given the go to move in. After they had moved in they had fixed the place up further, the floors had been bad, the walls had needed some work and there had been no front or back door on the residence. Most of the windows had been broken and the yard had also needed some work done on it.

After the floors and walls had been fixed up to look like new, they had replaced the windows and had bought two doors. After that, their mother had started finding things to furnish the apartment with. The sleeper sofa she had found at the dump, the Laz-Y-Boy chair she had bought for $50 and the tv she had bought for $75.95 at Walmart. Bile's bed had come with the apartment but it had needed some work done on the frame and it had needed a new mattress, their mother had bought the mattress brand new for $80 and Bile had fixed the frame. His, Hazaar and Lazeer's beds had all been bought brand new for the same price and then their mother had set in to find the essential items such as the fridge, which she had found at the dump and worked damn well, the washer and dryer, which she had bought for $40 each from someone who had been selling her things because she was moving out of state and then she had bought the stove from the same woman for $30. The microwave, coffee pot and can opener had come much later, items bought brand new from the Walmart on the east side of Green River, while the dressers that he and his brothers had in their rooms had been bought next. His had cost his mother $50, Bile's had been found at the dump while Hazaar's and Lazaar's dressers had been bought brand new from Walmart for nearly eighty dollars. The tables, book shelves and everything else had come at a later date.

After all the furnishing, they had set to fixing the yards. The front yard had been overgrown by thick grass and some ugly, snake hiding, bushes. Bile had burned the bushes down then had pulled up the stumps. He had burned the grass down to nearly three inches then had mowed the rest then he had got down on his hands and knees to pull up the weeds and the dead flower area that had been abandoned by the properties last owner. Hazaar and Lazeer had done the back yard, had cut the grass, cut the bushes and the young trees down then they had stepped back so that mom could deal with the bigger trees. In total, they had removed every bit of thirty trees and twenty-three bushes and there were still trees in the back yard that they were working on getting removed. Over the years repairs had had to be made on the apartment, the water tank, air conditioner and water pipes, the floors and walls and their mother had replaced all of the mattresses in the apartment once every year. Hazaar had had a brainy moment in planting an apple tree in the front yard five years before, he had done so without their mother's permission and had nearly been told to take it up. It grew some fine apples on it and, after their mother had seen how good that tree was she had let Lazeer plant his orange tree. This was home to all of them, this apartment had been home to them for three hundred years and, from the looks of it, someone uninvited had walked in.

Lhaklar decided to keep his fish with him, along with the finger knifes they would be useful as a weapon if he walked up on anyone violent. Very slowly, he walked into the apartment. It had that same feeling in it, still felt like home to him but it felt as if it had been violated. He went down the short hallway that led to the stairs that went up to the second level, was about to head upstairs then stopped and turned. Lhaklar's Pistachio-colored eyes that had a silverish shine to them near popped out of his head when he saw the state of the living room. The sleeper sofa was there, the Laz-Y-Boy chair was still there, the tv and coffee table were still there and so was the radiator heater but... all the entertainment systems and the games that went along with them were gone. There were empty places underneath the tv where the Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, Atari and Playstation systems had been and the cabinet that was right beside the entertainment system that had the games to the systems was empty.

"That sucks balls!" Lhaklar thought angrily. "Someone made off with the fuckin' game systems but left everything else in the room?"

He went into the kitchen next, making sure to take the most careful and silent steps he could make on his way there. The kitchen was the same, nothing was missing which he saw as weird. He checked the fridge, nothing missing. He checked the cabinets, nothing gone from them. He checked the counter tops and saw that everything was there that had been there when he had left that morning. The cellar door was directly in front of him, he went to it then stopped for some reason, he got a feeling to not check there and backed away then decided to head down the hallway that branched off of the kitchen and led to his younger brothers room. He placed his string of fish on the kitchen table as he walked by it, he noticed that all the photographs of him and his brothers and of his mother and he and his brothers were missing on the walls. He checked the closet where he and his brothers placed their coats and where their mother kept her bags when he came to it. His stomach dropped when he saw that the closet was empty, just a black, blank space that had nothing in it.

"Oh shit! Bile, mom's going to kill either you, Hazaar or Lazeer for not locking the door when you left the apartment when she gets home!" Lhaklar thought, a feeling of anger rolled over him and he had trouble standing straight for a second.

Down the hallway he went, he checked the bathroom that was on the hallway and found that there was a portion of the floor ripped up. Why was that? Someone comes in and takes the entertainment systems and the games that went to them, took the photographs of my family and took the coats and mom's leather bags but left the furniture in the living room, everything in the kitchen and ripped up a part of the floor in the first level's bathroom floor? Lhaklar went to the very end of the hallway, his brothers' bedroom door was wide open so he could see without going into the room its state. For the second time in that long, five minutes of his being back at the apartment that he and his family had lived in and called home for three hundred years his eyes near bulged out of his face. Hazaar and Lazeer's bedroom had been de-nuded of nearly all of his younger brother's things. Gone were Lazeer's model planes, space ships and dinosaurs. Gone were Hazaar's model trains. Gone was the alarm clock, gone were the posters and the books on the shelves and by golly gosh... his younger brothers was going to flip... go completely insane when they saw that their hunting trophies were also gone. The beds, complete with bedding, dressers, book shelf and the corner table that Hazaar used to do his model trains on were still there but everything else of his brothers' was gone.

"Someone is going to get a foot in the ass after mom sees this!" Lhaklar thought frantically. "Hell, I might give a foot up the ass to whoever left that door open!"

He walked away from his younger brother's bedroom, turned then went through the living room. He walked up the stairs a bit too quickly, made a little noise as he went which he didn't care if anyone heard or not, he hoped that whoever it had been that had been in their home and who had made off with their things was still in the apartment because oh boy did he ever want to kick whoever it was' ass! After he reached the top of the stairs he went down the short hallway that had two doors on it and that had his and Bile's bedroom on the end of. He checked the bathroom quickly, saw nothing had been taken and that the floor and walls were fine then he checked the closet. As with the one on the first level, this one had been victimized as well... although to a lesser extent as the vacuum and carpet cleaners were still in the area, the jackets and the boxes of stuff that had old photographs of him and his brothers and of their mother in them were all gone. Lhaklar made his way to the room at the end of the hallway that was his and Bile's shared room quickly after seeing the state of the closet that was on the second level. The door to his and his older brothers room was wide open, he peered in slowly, he didn't dare go in as the person who had made off with his and his family's things could well be hiding behind the door and would probably love to swing the door shut, locking him in just to attack and steal what he had on his person.

"Ooooooh shiiiiiiit!" Lhaklar moaned out loud. "Raquel Welch! Rita Hayworth! My Christopher Lloyd poster that had Marilyn Manson hiding behind it... oooohhh shiiiiit!"

Oh that wasn't all that was missing in the room that he and his older brother shared. The books on the shelf, the what-knots and the knives were gone. The models he had built and the model he had been working on were gone and so where the things that had been on his and Bile's dressers. The alarm clocks and lamps were also gone and... holy shit! Their hunting trophies had also been taken! Gone was the Water Buffalo skull and horns that Bile had collected from one of his hunts. Gone were Bile's trophies and plaques from when he had done something incredible while being a student at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. Gone were his trophies and plaques from when he had done something awesome at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and the University of Telepathy and... oh sweet mommy, don't hurt me now but his younger brothers had asked him to keep their trophies and plaques safe from Pronghorn and the University of Telepathy... they were gone too!

R-r-r-r- robbed..." Lhaklar said in a throaty whisper. "Oh please mommy help me, we've been fuckin' robbed of everything but the furniture items!"

He turned tail and fled down the hallway, he ran so hard that his heart pounded in his chest a million miles a second. It went ka-bam, ka-boom, ka-bam,ka-boom for half of his mad dash down the hallway then slowed down after he reached the stairs. He went down four of the steps then stopped. Ka-thud, ka-thud, ka-thud... his heart slowed up a few seconds later, he got control of himself for only a second then he near panicked when he saw the shadow. It looked small, it looked male and it was moving. The shadow moved slowly out of his view then it moved back into his view before disappearing entirely afterwards. He took two, silent, steps down the stairs then stopped and listened. He couldn't tell but he thought he had heard the person that was down in the living room of his family's just discovered to be robbed apartment say something. Someone was still in the apartment, was that someone the person who had taken all of his, his brothers' and their mother's things? Lhaklar hugged up against the wall, he pressed his shoulder up against the wall hard then walked down two more steps until he was just three steps away from where the wall opened up to the living room. His throat felt dry, he felt cold and clammy and his stomach was bouncing all over the place. Was he terrified? You bet you bottom damn dollar he was!

"Someone came home," he heard someone say in the living room. "there were fish on the table in the kitchen and we heard footsteps going upstairs."

"Still inside? Did that someone leave? Did you get a look at who it was?" he heard another voice, who sounded familiar to him, asked.

"No sir," the first voice replied. "the front door we left open, so whoever came home knows something happened."

"Did you close the door?" the second voice asked.

"Yessir,"

He was fucking trapped! The front door was closed, when he had been either upstairs checking the closet, bathroom and his and Bile's shared bedroom someone had walked up and closed the front door. He could head back up the stairs, go to his and Bile's shared bedroom and leap out the window. He might get some scrapes and bruises, might even get a broken bone or two but dammit he'd not be trapped like an animal. He had left the fish in the kitchen, whoever it had been that had come into the apartment that he and his family had lived in and had called home for three hundred years had come out from their hiding places to see the fish and had automatically known that someone was walking about inside the apartment. Whoever the person was who had closed the door, he must have been very quiet because he had not heard the door latch upon being closed. Lhaklar's knees shook, he near collapsed then got control of himself. He back-walked up the stairs two steps then stopped.

"You're not a kid anymore! You're two thousand, one hundred years old and have enough power in you to wield off any attacker." he thought. "You have a hunting knife in your bag and finger knives on the fingers on your left hand... this is your place so why the hell are you thinking about escaping?"

Mom wouldn't want him to be in any danger, he knew that for sure. He was in his mid-teens, he was strong and powerful but, if the two that were in the apartment were fast enough they could really hurt him. If one of the two had a gun on them he'd be pushing out Daisy's and fast. Lhaklar took one more of the stairs back then stopped, he began to wonder where the two had been hiding. He had checked the living room, kitchen, both bathroom's, his and Bile's shared room on the second level and Hazaar and Lazeer's shared room on the first level, no one had been in them places. The only room that he hadn't checked was the cellar and... and that was when it came to him about the feeling he had gotten when he had gone to the door that went to the cellar. He had felt one of them dangerous feelings, he had felt that a sort of danger had hid behind the door to the cellar and he had not checked there. He had moved his hunted moose and turkey there after he had caught them, quite possibly that had let the two who had been in the apartment that he was coming first and then, after he had walked into the apartment and had started looking around in a sort of panicked wonder, they had been further notified of his presence. Why hadn't the two robbers left the cellar after he had left the kitchen? Why had they waited until he had gone upstairs? Lhaklar decided to do one of his telepathy moves. He placed his hands on the wall, breathed in deeply then got the information that he needed from the wall's memory of what had happened in the apartment after he had left it and who was in the living room.

"I think that was one of the best meals I've had since I went out on my own." Gracie said after she had finished her steak and eggs. "Who taught you how to cook? Did you learn on your own or-..."

"My mother, she's one fine cook. Taught me and my brothers all she knows." Bile replied.

"She must be commended then, raised four boys on her own and taught each how to cook."

Bile smiled at the compliment and acknowledging of his mother's cooking and teaching him how to cook. Some men were sloppy cooks, they cooked and put little to no effort into what they were cooking. They just made it then ate it then went on with their day. There were some who put a little more effort into cooking and then there were the small number who put a great effort into their cooking and those men tended to be fine partners. Bile, after he and Gracie had had an hour and a half's worth of fun on the couch, had kept Gracie on him for all of ten minutes before gently pushing her off of him then grabbing his clothes. He had slid his brown boxers, brown pants, socks and brown boots on then had found that Gracie had his shirt. After some thought, he had decided to let her keep it. It was the gentleman's way for him, a good way to say that he cared and that he hadn't been after her for just her body. After he had dressed himself he had gone into Gracie's kitchen and had raided her fridge. A pack of hot-dogs, a few meat patties, two things of pork chops, a slice of ham and three steaks had been in the freezer part of the refrigerator along with two things of ice cream, a roll of sausage, a thing of bacon and a pack of ribs, when he had seen the three steaks he had thought, why in the world does she have three of these when there's only her living in the apartment?, then he had grabbed two of them and started fixing them up.

Gracie had been decent, not top-notch in the sex-department but decent enough to satisfy him. He had cooked the steaks up good, had added some seasoning to them then had cooked some eggs right on top of them. As they had eaten, she had introduced her weird cats and her hamster, Brutus. She had a bald cat, named a Sphyx, that she had named Felix and a Siamese cat that acted like he was half there that she had named Jam, why he was named that was beyond him but he had accepted the name, hadn't said anything on it and she had continued talking on and on. Her hamster... that damn thing was not a hamster! The thing was big, was brown and white and it had a tail. Hamsters were known to have just stubs for tails, they were born that way so he had known soon after seeing the thing that it wasn't a hamster that Gracie had as a pet. She had her pet "hamster" in a large cage that had a wheel, two tubes that curled up then around the cage and her "hamster" also had a hammock in his cage which was weird. If he had to put a name to the animal, he'd say it was one of them Sugar Gliders or something like that. Soon after he had finished eating he glanced up at the clock and saw, to his shock, that it was 3:45. He had missed meeting his two younger brothers for lunch and he had to drive back to Green River, Wyoming which would be a two-hour drive. Bile quickly said his goodbyes, explained why he had to leave so soon after eating, grabbed his coat then left Gracie's apartment. He left his shirt behind, he had dozens back at home like it and, besides, what did it cost to get a new one anyways? $1 a pack of 3 brown shirts that were 2x large.

"Hazaar... Lazeer... you still alive out there?" he had drove about five miles, was speeding and had his communicator up to his lips which made him swerve slightly in the lane that he was in.

"No! We froze to death a few hours ago." Hazaar's voice came through his communicator. "Lazeer's nuts flew north for the winter, he's decided to become a woman now."

"Very funny, I'm on my way to get you two." Bile said. "Be ready to hop in, I'm teleporting the car and us to the start of the tunnel near Green River after you two are inside."

He sped through two red lights, near clipped the bumper of a Lamobgu Mercedes, one of the newer model cars that looked as if they had stepped right out of a nightmare then made a hard right. What the hell had his younger brothers done in his absence? Had they shopped or done anything useful with their time or had they just sat around and fought amongst themselves? Bile cursed himself for losing track of the time, he had gone to Gracie's place at noon and had completely forgotten about his two younger brothers the second he had gotten there. A woman had thrown a curve-ball at his brain, had side-tracked him... a woman had pulled him away from his two younger brothers, one who had an eye ailment and who had only enough drops to get him by for two applications. Had they eaten anything? Oh shit! He had gone off with a woman, abandoned his brothers at lunchtime and they were probably half-starved! Bile pulled over at a N'Do'Nots restaurant, got out of the car then ran in. He spent fifteen dollars on donuts and three good and warm espresso's then left the store. He placed the food on the seat next to him, put the espresso's in the cup holders then drove off. Before he went far he checked his communicator, it had a locator on it that would tell him of Hazaar and Lazeer's last location when he had spoken to them last. They were just five miles away, practically around the corner. Bile slowed up some, made two turns then pulled his mother's Buick Lucerne over when he saw his two younger brother's.

"What the hell..." Bile exclaimed when he saw that both Hazaar and Lazeer had what looked to be five or six bags each on their arms. "you two went crazy on the shopping, didn't you?"

"What the hell happened to your shirt? Get hungry and eat it or did your latest lover steal it?" Lazeer asked after he had taken a seat in the back of the car.

"Left it as a souvenir at my latest girlfriend's place." Bile replied.

"Bet she burned it after you left." Lazeer said.

"She was wearing it when I left her place."

"Got her name? Number? Address?" Hazaar asked. "Everything you need for when, after the baby is delivered at our doorstep, you can return it?"

"Shut your face you twerp." Bile replied, he then pointed at the donuts and espresso's. "Enjoy yourselves."

"You say for me to shut my face up then you offer donuts and espresso's." Hazaar said. "You should have said stuff your face instead."

"Did I hear the word donut?" Lazeer leaned over the front seats then looked down. He grabbed the espresso nearest him then opened the box and took out a strawberry filled donut. "Thanks Bro!"

It had taken him all of an hour before he had gotten over the pain of having his nuts sent up north after his brother had kicked his heel into them after he had tried to calm him down. As soon as the pain had ebbed to next to nothing he had sat up then had, slowly and shakily, stood up. His legs had been a bit wobbly but he had managed to stand on them. After he had gained full use of his legs he had walked over to the two bags that were his own, had picked them up then he had gone up to his brother. He had given his brother half of the money that he had on his person, which had been $125, then they had gone shopping. He had bought himself two magazines, a plane model and a model of a dragon. The dragon model came with the armature, some clay and some paint, he was really going to deck out the dragon and he was hoping to have his mother transform into her dragon form so he had a guide on how to do the crests, spine and tail tip. Hazaar... he had bought several magazines, a watch that had cost him $25 and then he had surprised him by buying a model of a weird Tyrannosaurus Rex, Eagle and Bat animal which, on the box, claimed that animal was _the most fierce creature that flew the skies. The Tyranaglat is the most fearsome of all flying animals_. He had had ten dollars left on him so he had decided to buy Lhaklar something. He had gotten his older brother a model of a 1969 Chevrolet Nova SS Diecast car, that had cost him all of his money but he had felt damn happy with his purchases. Hazaar, who had had $30 left on him, bought Bile two magazines and a skull that was designed to look like a brain which both of them thought their oldest brother would be thrilled with. They had not eaten a single thing, they were both famished and, for Bile to of gotten them something to eat, they were flattered. Hazaar sipped on his espresso, ate some of his jelly glazed donut then reached into the bag that had the words Spencer's Gifts on it.

"Got you this, Bro." Hazaar said, he showed Bile the brain-designed skull.

"Holy shit! That looks freakin' awesome!" Bile exclaimed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, also got you some magazines."

"Whose treating who now? I leave you two behind in the cold and you've got me gifts." Bile said. "Thank you."

"Lazeer had to use his drops once." Hazaar admitted. "Sun came up and-..."

"Hazaar kicked me in the nuts, the sun came out after the pain went away and I wasn't under cover." Lazeer sniffed.

Bile looked at Hazaar sharply, he glared at his younger brother then looked forward at the road. The car around he and his brothers got staticky for a few seconds, it faded in and out then disappeared off of the road. They appeared just outside of the mouth of the tunnel that they had traveled through earlier that morning that had taken them from their cozy little town of Green River. Bile shook his head in despair, the things his younger brothers did as a way of payback. Hazaar had explained that Lazeer had stalked him then had leaped out of nowhere to spook him. He had fallen in a gutter, cars had been going by so he could have been hurt, and then he had let his temper take over. Lazeer had ran to an alley, he had followed him and there had been a fight. Lazeer did have some bruises on his face and his lower lip was slit a little, the worst injury he had had was having his balls kicked. Lazeer explained that he had slipped some bills from some people for them to continue shopping and that, when he had been handing Hazaar his half, the sun had popped out from behind the clouds. He had not been prepared, he had been out in broad daylight and so he had experienced more pain. Hazaar had helped Lazeer apply the drops but it had taken a few minutes before their younger brother felt better and then they had had to wait for the sun to go behind the clouds before they could walk out and start shopping again.

"Can you two be anymore immature?" Bile asked. "A kick in the nads is not something one wants to go through, Hazaar."

"He pissed me off."

"So what, what he did didn't call for any abuse of the sacred sack."

"You've knee'd Lhaklar and me in the nuts several times." Hazaar pointed out.

"Don't mean it's a-okay to do. I didn't mean what I did. I wasn't paying attention to my rough housing and you damn well know it." Bile replied.

"My balls will be sending you a thank-you postcard in a few days." Lazeer said.

"No thanks, I don't need no nutsy postcards coming my way." Bile replied. "Send a magazine or a photograph of a lovely, near naked, woman and I'll be fine."

"Haven't you had enough of women for a while?" Lazeer asked. "Aren't your tits freezing?"

"I'm naturally heated Little Brother." Bile replied.

"Lazeer got to look down a woman's shirt in one of the stores we went in." Hazaar said.

"Oh yeah, see anything good?" Bile glanced back once at his youngest brother then looked forward at the road.

"Some nice mountains, Big Bro." Lazeer replied. "She let me see them, I was buying mom a gift and she just leaned over the counter and started flirting."

"Make sure you set up a territory of your own after you get your glass." Bile said. "Can't have you hogging all my ladies and I definitely don't want to be funning around with a woman after you've had a go with her."

"Gross! I'll set up shop in Nordic. Women are fine there and there are plenty." Lazeer said.

Hazaar ate three more donuts then left the rest, Lazeer had two more then decided to let Bile have the last two. Bile put on the radio then, after the station that Gracie had put on started playing some chick-tunes, as he called them, he had Hazaar put in a CD. They listened to Motley Crue for a while then decided to ride in silence. Hazaar slid Bile's bag that had his CDs in it in one of his shopping bags, Bile pulled over to grab the bags he had placed in the trunk then he threw then in the back once he got back inside the car. It was cold outside, he had not zipped his coat up and, with his shirt being in Alpine, probably still being worn by his latest female companion, he was feeling a bit chilly. He took three, big gulps from his espresso the put it down in one of the cup holders. There was a twenty minute period now before they'd reach home, he had a mind to slip into bed and take a nap as, after a few hours of shopping and then entertaining a woman and then nearly having a heart attack after realizing he had forgotten all about his two younger brothers, he was exhausted! As if to confirmed this, he yawned into his arm.

His heart was now beating frantically in his heart, he had seen everything that had happened and it had freaked him out so bad that he was about to turn heel and race up the stairs. His father, followed by four Goblins, had entered the apartment, that had been locked up pretty fucking tight after his brothers had left it soon after he went off to do his planned activities for the day, and had walked around, checking the place out. His father had gone into all of the rooms, he had nodded his head a few times but he had said not a thing until each and every room was checked. After he had seen that he and his family weren't home he had given an order. Collect everything that belongs to them from the rooms, he had said, leave the furniture but take the material possessions. Teleport them to my mansion, I'll notify everyone there to start setting things up in the rooms as soon as everything is there.

There had been a lot of blue lights going off from the wands that the four Goblins had had on their persons, all of their things had been spell-sent from their apartment to his father's mansion on Moas and what had his father done while the Goblins had been working? Sitting in the Laz-Y-Boy chair, staring into deep space looking like a damn dictator. His father had gone upstairs after one of the Goblins had asked him a question, it had been about his Christopher Lloyd poster, that had the first edition, blown up, photograph of Marilyn Manson hid behind it that they had found after the poster had fallen onto his bed, and the Goblin had also asked about the Rita Hayworth and Raquel Welch posters that were Bile's. His father had hesitated in his decision after he had seen the naked photograph from the first edition of the Playboy magazine taped up behind his Christopher Lloyd poster then had said for all three to be sent to his mansion. After they had been sent away, his father had gone downstairs and had raided the fridge for a glass of milk, had seated himself at the kitchen table then had just stared down at his hands. He had stayed that way for a short while then, after the four Goblins had said that they had completed their order, he had stood up, stretched then had gone and opened the cellar door.

His father had personally spell-sent the torches that Bile had made to his mansion, he had said that he had a feeling that they were special and wanted them to be kept up in the attic until he figured out of what specialness they were, then he had said for one of the Goblins, a man named Losal, to head back to camp and get ten Goblins, five military and five staff, to return with him. That Losal fellow had done what his father had ordered him to do, he had teleported away, had stayed away for all of twenty-five minutes then had returned with the numbered help that he had been ordered to bring back with him and... there had been two extras joining in soon after. His father had used his communicator to get his stepfather, Cheshire Ubalki, and his oldest son, Efagti, to teleport in. They had all remained in the cellar, each and every one of them had taken up the cellar and had waited for hours. His father had kept them warm by lighting a fire in the cellar but he had mostly kept quiet. He had had one of the most serious looks on his face... a look that said he was damn serious in taking him and his family by surprise... to take them all captive. His making his hunted moose and turkey appear in the cellar had shocked four of the Goblins, his father had walked over to investigate what had appeared then he had personally spell-sent his hunted moose and turkey to his mansion on Moas. He had used his cellular phone to contact someone at his place and had given the order to have the moose parts and turkey put in the meat locker while the pelt and antlers were to be placed in the attic, he had specifically ordered that the moose pelt was to be stretched out and dried before being placed up in the attic.

It had been his heading upstairs that had alerted them that someone was in the apartment. A Goblin named Rog Deruno had slowly opened the cellar door, had gone into the kitchen and had seen the string of fish then had grabbed them. He had returned to the cellar with them, showed his father then his father had spell-sent them away to his mansion. That was just great... just fucking gah-reat! Come home after a fine day to find your home burglarized by your father, your father takes your hunts and then your fish and then exits the cellar. He had left the cellar first, the Goblins had followed with granddad Cheshire and uncle Efagti following, two Goblins had been ordered to guard the back door, two more had been ordered to stand in the hallway that Hazaar and Lazeer's shared room was on while everyone else was waiting in the living room. His father... oh that ballsy bastard was sitting in the Laz-Y-Boy that he had turned around to face where the stairs began and where, if he had not seen the shadow or heard someone talking, he'd of walked into full view.

That would have been very fine and dandy for his father! Job well done bucks, we have one now just to wait in the cellar for the rest. Fine day just went for bust, he had danced his ass off, made lots of money that was needed for Lazeer's goggled glass, did some hunting, bagged a moose and a turkey then went and did some fishing and caught eleven fish, one he had wanted to get mounted up on a plaque and had come home to this. Place robbed, dad and company in the cellar and he standing nearly at the bottom of the stairs nearly scared enough to make a yellow river dribble down one of his pant leg. Lhaklar looked at his finger knives, they were long, sharp and very well polished. He could use them but... what if one of the Goblins had a gun on them? Would his father let one of his Goblins shoot at him? Was it just one of them lunge in, grab then bind the hands and feet operations that his father had in mind or... Lhaklar looked at the brown duffel bag that he still had with him. He had his hunting knife, a change of clothes and his Tarzan loin cloth in it, his duffel bag was heavy so he could use that as a weapon as well. He could swing it, knock a Goblin or two off of their feet then race upstairs to his and Bile's shared room, slam the door shut then run to the window, climb out then jump down to the ground and run for safety. He had his communicator on him, he could contact his mother and brothers afterwards and warn them and if any of the bastards that were in the apartment that he and his family had called home for three hundred years came after him he'd use his powers. Lhaklar took two, silent, steps back on the stairs then turned around. He had gone up one more when he heard his father calling out to him.

"Which of my boys is that?" his father called up. "Bile? Lhaklar? Hazaar?"

He froze in mid-step, the blood running through his veins slowed up and he shook slightly in his fear. It took him all of thirty seconds before he got control of himself, when he did he decided to just go for broke and try to make it out of the apartment the normal way instead of sneaking out. Lhaklar turned around, loosened his shoulders up a bit then began his descent down the stairs. He shoved his left hand into his jacket to conseal his finger knives, he wanted to shock anyone who attacked him and figured that hiding his finger knives was a good way in doing so. Each step felt like a mile, he felt as if his feet were boulders and his chest was tight as he wasn't letting out his breath. When he got to the last step before the stairs met the floor of the first floor he stopped, he let his held-in breath out then took in another, he got control of himself just as he took that last step that took him into full view of his father. That last step felt light, he felt as light as a feather during that last step and when he looked over at his father he kept that feeling.

There he sat, in the Laz-Y-Boy chair, looking just as serious as he had been when he had been down in the cellar waiting for either him, Bile, Hazaar, Lazeer or their mother to return home from their outings. He was wearing a black, wool overcoat over a dark green tuxedo. From what Lhaklar could make out, his shirt was long-sleeved and was white, there were belled cuffs hanging out from his wrists of his overcoat which had a gold thread around the ends. His father was wearing a pair of dark green shoes, dark green pants and there was a laurel green with black and silver, Gothic styled, cravat hanging down from around his neck. The Goblins, granddad Cheshire and uncle Efagti stood behind him, twelve strong with his father making the unlucky number thirteen... whether that was for him or for his father he didn't know, all he knew was that each of the Goblins behind his father had some mean-looking faces on them. Did they have any weapons on them? Well, there were four that looked as if they were in his father's military so he was pretty sure that they did but what about the five that looked as if they were staff members... employees, to his father? Lhaklar decided to let his father make the first move, let him get the surprise then take off and if anyone tried to take him down and capture him he'd turn around and swipe at him with his finger knives and maybe even send a ball of fire out as well. It took all of two minutes before his father stood up, he took two steps towards his then stopped.

"If you have any weapons on your person you best just toss them," his father said. "you're very outnumbered here and don't you forget that I am your father."

"Seventeen to one, yes I would say pretty outnumbered here." Lhaklar said.

"Apparently you learned very well at the University of Telepathy how to use the wall of a building to gain memory of what happened in it." his father said.

"Thief."

"Oh now, watch yourself." TazirVile walked two steps forward then slightly turned. "Nothing of yours has been stolen... but we might need to talk of the posters."

"Mom'll be pretty jealous of the boner you got when you looked at them." Lhaklar said, Efagti gasped in shock behind his father while everyone else remained quiet.

"Whose posters were they, that full naked girl might not get a chance to be put up as she is a bit extreme and all three..." TazirVile cleared his throat. "pardon, four of you are much too young to be seeing that."

"The Rita Hayworth and Raquel Welch posters were Bile's and-..."

"Whose Rita Hayworth and Raquel Welch?"

"The woman on the bed is Rita Hayworth, the one wearing the bikini was Raquel Welch."

"Ah, so those are Bile's?" TazirVile nodded his head slowly. "And that one hiding behind the big, bald man?"

"Mine,"

"Ah, well you might not be allowed to keep that one. Whose the man?"

"Christopher Lloyd, the poster is of one of his characters in a movie he was in." Lhaklar replied.

"Take one more step towards the door and there will be a problem, Young Man."

Okay... yes he had taken some steps towards the front door but he had known all the while of his small step taking that it'd be noticed and he'd be ordered to quit it. Lhaklar stood in place, his father said a few more things referring to the items he had taken, the Playboy and Hustler magazines he was confiscating, he'd only let him and his brothers look at them when they asked to and... he had found his, Hazaar's and Bile's stashes. He had Bile's small baggies of pot, he had his Black Devil's cigarettes and he had Hazaar's four packs of Camel's, Marlboro's and Newport's. He was not happy on the discovery of the cigarettes, Lhaklar detected two languages and, since he had taken several alien languages while at Pronghorn and the University of Telepathy, he knew exactly what he was saying. He let the getting-on going through one ear and come out the other, so what if his father discovered his and his brothers' cigarette stashes. They'd buy more and keep smoking... or at least until their mother found out and told them to quit which they would. One of his father's staff had found a few empty bottles, with the tags torn off, and had shown his father so his father was thinking that either he or Bile or Hazaar or Lazeer were on some bad drugs. Lhaklar laughed inside, his youngest brother was one who liked to tear off the labels on his eye drops, whether the kind that he had gotten from one of the planets that their mother had taken him to to get his eye checked and see what the price was on getting a single goggled glass or the human, Visine Tears, kind. His father had seen the eye drop bottles that had had their labels torn off and had perceived them as drug bottles, he was getting on him and his brothers for something they didn't nor would ever do.

"So, who was it that had the model cars upstairs?" his father asked him.

"Me,"

"Ah, you've kept an interest in vehicles then."

"Course, as long as their the older models and not of one of them over-balanced vehicles that are put out today." Lhaklar replied.

"Whose the one who has the model trains?" his father asked.

"Hazaar,"

"I suppose it is that Reezal boy who has the model planes, dinosaurs and space ships?" his father asked.

"Bile had the knives." Lhaklar said.

"We'll get the rest worked out after you and your brothers and your mother are on my ship heading home." his father said.

It happened so fast that he was barely able to figure out how it all came to being. His father walked over, placed his hand on his arm and that was what prompted him to swing out his left hand. The blades on his finger knives glistened in the afternoon sunshine that seeped in through the cracks in the door frame for only a second before they were swept to the side. One swipe. One yell. He was running for his life afterwards, his father had turned around and had grabbed his arm right above the elbow which was spitting out his greenish colored blood all over the walls of the apartment. He ran right to the living room, swiped his finger knives three more times, caught granddad Cheshire low on the arm and then uncle Efagti in the back then he caught a Goblin in the shoulder before running for the hallway that led to the back door. He leaped over the two Goblins that were guarding the hallway then charged right through the two Goblins that were guarding the back door. He slammed his shoulder hard into the door, grabbed the door knob and untwisted the lock then ran out to the back yard. He had gone no more than four feet when he felt a hand land on his arm. He slid to a stop, turned and saw that his father had followed him and the serious look that he had had before was now replaced by one of pure anger and disgust.

"You are going to pay dearly for that one, Young Man!" his father said angrily.

"Really? Chew on this next one!"

Lhaklar slammed his shoulder into his father then, while his father was momentarily knocked off-balance, he swung the hand that had his finger knives on it again. He caught his father on the same arm, the left one, right near the shoulder-blade pretty deep. His father's black, wool overcoat ripped, his greenish colored blood spat out on the concrete slab that rested up against the apartment. While his father was busy grabbing his arm and yelling out in pain, he tore off around the apartment. He heard several following him, he used his finger knives as a mirror to see who all was following him and saw that it was four Goblins and good, ol' uncle Efagti. His duffel bag was slowing him up, he threw it to the side then set to running. It seemed that as soon as he untangled his legs and had began to really add the speed that uncle Efagti decided to make his move. He ran up nearly beside him, grabbed his arm and then he saw the asphalt on the street. Lhaklar had swung his right hand, held in a tight fist, hard just as his uncle had grabbed him. He made a turn, went down Peacock Dr., then crossed the street. He had just made the turn onto Reveler's Ct. when he heard the sound of mad running feet behind him. Quickly, Lhaklar held his finger knives out and saw, to his complete disbelief, that his father was closing the gap between them. Lhaklar kept a good eye on how much distance was between he and his father through the reflection given off by his finger knives then, when his father was a step behind him, he jerked himself around. He swung his fist, it collided with his father's face then he swung the hand that had the finger knives on it. Instead of the stainless steel blades cutting into one of the arms or legs of his father, giving his father another injury that would take him out momentarily so he could get away, they caught nothing but air. His father pulled back just in the knick of time then lunged forward. His father swung at the hand that had the finger knives on it and managed to send the thumb and pinky finger knife flying. Lhaklar decided to get the hell out of the air afterwards, he ducked to avoid a punch then swung the remaining finger knives up. His father howled then fell back, he had caught him on the inner left thigh pretty high up. Lhaklar turned and fled, going in the direction of the county dump, just as the Goblins, Cheshire and Efagti came into view.

"Bile?" Hazaar asked, his brother had suddenly stopped the car and was simply looking forward in a sort of daze. "You okay?"

"Did we stop? I don't feel us moving forward."

The sun had come out from behind the clouds and he, with only enough of his eye drops to last for one more application, had ducked behind the seats to avoid the rays. He felt like an idiot, he felt like one of them mole's that only lived under the ground and who were near blind. Here he was, hiding from the sun that had decided to show itself and give the cold Earth some warmth from the chilly winter. Lazeer sighed, they were about five miles from home and, from the feel of the car, they had stopped. Hazaar was seated beside their older brother, he could hear him asking if their older brother was okay and he was getting no answer. This made him feel nervous, his older brother only did this when one of them was in danger and, usually, he entered a trance-like state that was scary. He became not himself, he mumbled, he blinked his eyes and then he got violent. Lazeer knocked his elbows back against the back of the drivers seat in an attempt to get Bile's attention. When his elbow knocking had no effect, he turned around and kicked his feet into the seat.

"Wa-...uh-...ile-..."

His little brothers pleading came to him distantly, he heard it but it was like his youngest brother was under water or miles away from him. Something was wrong, he knew it, he felt it and he didn't much like it. Bile looked out the window slowly, the sky was clearing up, Lazeer would be hiding for ten to fifteen minutes before the sun would be covered by another set of clouds that were slowly drifting in. He had no idea what was going on, he had felt that feeling of something not right, had decided to pull over and stop the car then the feeling had sort of gone away. It was 3:59, one minute before four o' clock and an hour before their mother would be back from her outing with Casey in Rock Springs. Could the feeling he was getting be coming from their mother? Could she of returned early to find them not home and be angry at them for their tardiness? No, she had said for them to be back at five, no later, she had said nothing about being back before then. Could it be Lhaklar? Could his younger brother of returned home and had a spaz attack after seeing them not back? No, couldn't be that. Lhaklar had come home to finding himself the only one home many times and he had not gone crazy, he had not run around, asking if they had been seen and he had not called or bugged them on the communicator to see if they were alright either. Couldn't be Hazaar or Lazeer, they were right here in the car with him. Could it just be nerves? He had been away from home for so long, had been away from his mother for so long... sometimes when he had spent a good, long time away from his brothers or his mother, or both, he did get a bit nervous. He was a high, upper, mid-teenaged boy, he did still have that nervous tick to him when his mother or brothers weren't around him. Lazeer gave one, final, kick and that was what got Bile to shake his head. He was reaching for the key to restart the car when his communicator went off.

"Bile! Bile! Where the hell are you?" Lhaklar's voice sounded stressed... it was loud and had an urgency to it. Bile quickly fished his communicator off of his belt.

"Lhaklar, what is it? We're nearly home."

"F-... no! Don't go home, dammit!" that same urgent, stressed tone was in Lhaklar's voice and that made Bile, Hazaar and Lazeer all nervous.

"What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Dad got into the shield, he had Goblins with him-..." Lhaklar's voice went silent for a short few seconds then came back in strong and with that same urgent, stressed tone to it. "he took all out stuff! He got into the apartment and took all of our stuff and now he's got me holed up at the dump!"

"What?" Bile exclaimed. "What did you say?"

"My dad... _your _adopted father... robbed us of our things! They're all at his place on Moas." Lhaklar replied. "I came home, he was waiting for us and tried to capture me. I injured him and he is pissed about it! He's-... oh shit, Bile! He's-..."

"Spread out and look for my son." TazirVile Surfeit's voice, full of anger that had a dangerous quality to it, came in through the communicator loud and strong. "I want him found and brought to me at once!"

"Oh shit!" Bile exclaimed, he turned the key in the ignition, started the car up then sped off towards the dump.


	30. Chapter 30

A place where humans sent their waste products and items that they saw that had no value which he and his brothers discovered and took home, either for their own benefits or as gifts for their mother. They usually had to clean a lot of what they found at the dump but everything that they had found had some fine years still left in them and they enjoyed each item greatly. The Green River, Wyoming dump had started out as just one, single, pile of junk and waste and then, after the population started growing, the number of piles of accumulated junk and waste grew. When the plagues and natural disasters hit, the piles had shrunk but, after the human population had done some recovering the piles had returned. There was the large pile that harbored nothing but gross, disgusting things which he and his family never went near. There were the medium piles that had both gross, disgusting things and things of use that he and his family had discovered over the years and there were the smaller piles that had the stuff that Lazeer called their mined Gold Nuggets. Them smaller piles had all sorts fo fine things; hand bags, shoes, boots, clothing, toys, posters, old photographs, maybe a discarded dryer or washing machine and, of course, the game systems that the humans decided they didn't want and didn't want to bother with the time to spend selling them off to someone else. The air around the dump had a foul smell to it, a dumpy smell as Hazaar called it, and there were sticky things all over the ground that were just waiting to cling to someone's shoe. Lhaklar had decided to hid behind a pile of either broken, cracked or thought-to-be of little use boards, he had made it to the dump only by the skin of his teeth and had hid himself quickly. He had contact his brothers, had explained to them what was going on then he had had to clamp his mouth shut. He had shut his communicator off completely and the reason for this was because his father and his blasted Goblins and Cheshire and Efagti had ran into the dump.

There was a slime pipe somewhere in the dump that he was hiding in, although he didn't want to climb into it and get icky, yucky, green waste all on him he would use the pipe if he had to. Lazeer called the pipe the Jolly Green Giant's waste hole and, from all the stuff that spewed out from it, they had accepted the name without any bickering. Here he was, in this nice, smelly, sometimes offensive, place nearly on his knees, hiding being a pile of boards that had been stacked up nicely, one board being placed on top of the other in a sort of neat fashion. He had three finger knives on his hand, they could still be used... but he had lost his hunting knife as it had been in his duffel bag that he had tossed to the side so it wouldn't slow him up with its weight. He guessed that his father had ordered it sent to his ship or ordered to be spell-sent to his mansion on Moas or, quite possibly as he had been running and had been pretty damn mad, he had ran past it without noticing it and had given no order for it to be removed from the planet. Wherever it was, it was of no use to him now. He couldn't run back and get his hunting knife, he was to just have his three, remaining finger knives and his powers to rely on to get out of this situation in one piece.

"Sir, we haven't found him on the east side of this location." he heard a Goblin nearby tell his father.

"I want this whole place double, triple and then quadruple checked until he is found." he heard his father say to the Goblin. "Leave no stone unturned, got me?"

"Yessir,"

Leave no stone unturned? Oh shit, that meant they were going to start looking through the piles. Did they really think he had jumped into a pile of junk and waste to hide from them? There was a small space between him and the fence, he could easily turn and climb up it but that would take some time and he could see himself now... his father would yell out, he'd bark out for his Goblins to go retrieve him, he'd be grabbed by either the seat of his pants or by the hem of his pants then yanked down. The Goblins would either throw him at his father's feet or they'd present him to his father on his feet, probably he'd just be given the I'm-mad-at-you look at but worse case scenario would be he'd get whopped by either his father's hand or by his father's belt in front of everyone, one or the other, then he'd be carted off to his father's ship and thrown in a cell in the dungeon or something. Lhaklar looked over to the right, the board pile that he was hiding behind went only four feet then ended and there was nothing but good, crisp, clear distance between it and the next pile so if he decided to move to a safer hiding place for it he'd be seen. On the left of him it was much the same so it was either move off and find a new hiding place, fight whoever sees and comes after you or stay put, be found then not have much room to fight in afterwards. Lhaklar chose the former, he sprang out from his hiding place just as the Goblin named Losal walked up to it and ran off. Losal ran after him, as did three other Goblins. He was faster than they were and managed to run around a pile of junk. He turned just after reaching a safer placed and swung his remaining finger knives at the four Goblins that were pursuing him. The Goblin named Losal howled out in pain after his finger knives swiped across his chest while the other three Goblins merely had their legs swiped out from under them. Lhaklar ran off afterwards, he ran past several piles of junk, a dryer that was just sitting in place, waiting to be given a home on one of the piles then he ducked behind some old crates that had been piled up against each other.

"What happened?" TazirVile demanded to know after he ran up to see Losal on his knees and nearly double over.

"Sir, Young Master Lhaklar jumped out from behind the board pile and ran off. We ran after him and he attacked us." Daosi Zultoa, a short, dark blue skinned Goblin that had large, yellow eyes who was wearing a light blue tuxedo and shoes, said. "Losal got the worst of his attack."

"Losal, you alright?" TazirVile asked, his chest was heavy with anger. He was wheezing and his hands were flexing then relaxing.

"I'm-..." Losal gulped, took a breath then looked up. "I'm fine."

"Head back to camp," TazirVile said after he saw that Losal's chest had two, deep, scratches on it and that his employee was bleeding badly. "that's an order."

"I'm fine, sir. Really." Losal said. "Just a scra-..."

"You heard me, head back to camp!"

He moved slightly, two crates fell and then he ran off after one of the Goblins shouted. He had two Goblins on him, one that looked rather burly while the other was lean. He ran a good distance then turned to the left. The two Goblins followed and got a surprise. He grabbed the leaner Goblin by his throat, heaved him up then slammed him down to the ground where he instantly began to wheeze. The second Goblin grabbed him around one leg and tried to pull it out from under him, Lhaklar punched his arm down and the Goblin jumped back to avoid the fire ball that he had sent down at him. Lhaklar then kicked his leg up, the ground underneath the Goblin shot up and the Goblin went flying. After he had sent the Goblin flying away from him, Lhaklar ran off. He made it to one of the sheds quickly, he opened the door then jumped in. He latched the door closed behind him then went as far back as he could in the building. After he had gone as far as he could he looked down and saw, to his amazement, that one of the Goblins had managed to take one of his finger knives. He now had two left, the middle and ring finger knife were his last remaining finger knives. Lhaklar slid down to a crouched position just as his brothers pulled up in the parking lot that was beside the dump.

"Alright, Hazaar... Lazeer, you two wait here." Bile said as he undid his seat belt then reached for the door handle. "I'll be back with Lhaklar."

"Absolutely not!" Hazaar exclaimed, he undid his seat belt then got out of the car quickly. "I'm going with, I want to help."

"Someone needs to stay and keep Lazeer company." Bile said, it was a weak thing to say. He was scared for his two, younger brothers and didn't want neither to be hurt.

"I'll be fine, when the sun goes into hiding I'll join you two." Lazeer said, he was still on the floor board of their mother's Buick Lucerne. "Have fun, leave me one of them bastards to fight."

He hesitated, he thought about telling Hazaar to get back in the car then thought against it. There was very short time to help Lhaklar, for all he knew his brother might have been caught and might be in trouble... hell, his brother might just be getting ready for to experience a whipping for all he knew. Bile walked towards the fence, each of his steps was balanced well, were placed well and his every movement spelled his strength. He jumped over the fence with barely any effort to the other side, his younger brother jumped up, grabbed the top of the fence then pulled himself over. Once they were on the side of the fence that the dump was on they got serious in looking for their brother. The looked behind piles of trash, piles of stuff that looked as if it had some life still in it and they also looked behind the single items like stoves, washing machines, driers and car frames. When they didn't find their brother they decided that he wasn't in the front of the dump. Bile slowly made his way towards the center of the dump, he kept low and that saved him from being seen as, as soon as he reached the middle portion of the dump, he saw his adopted father. Cheshire and Efagti were standing behind him while there were four Goblins searching through the junk that was piled up nearest them. Bile looked back once, he saw that Hazaar was crouched down behind a pile of bricks near him. Bile mouthed for his younger brother to keep quiet then he turned his head back towards his adopted father.

"Sir, you're bleeding pretty badly." Azogti Erukub, a pale green-skinned Goblin that had green eyes and who was wearing a black tuxedo and shoes, said.

"So what," TazirVile replied.

"You're bleeding in several areas, sir. Maybe you should head back to camp to-..."

"Only when I have my son will I head back to camp." TazirVile said.

"Sir-..."

"Look for my son!" TazirVile snapped.

"Sir-..."

Kalach knew it was coming and he braced himself for it, he had never been touched by his employer, he had been reprimanded vocally but he had never been reprimanded by touch and that went for a majority of his co-workers. He had been told that TazirVile Surfeit only got physical when he had to, meaning when one of his employees were not listening, were being stubborn or were becoming violent. Azogti Erukub was a younger Goblin, newly employed, so he really didn't know anything about his employer. It had been a scant five hundred years since the younger Goblin had graduated from Staffer's Academy, he had been educated on how to act concerned for his employer but he had also been educated on how to obey and comply with the orders of his injured employee and he had also been educated on knowing the signs of one who was fine who was injured. He was not paying attention to TazirVile Surfeit at all, the man was having no problems in keeping on his feet, he was not off-balance, he was not slurring his speech or acting confused and his color was good. He was fine, he may be injured and he may be bleeding badly but he was fine. Azogti continued to disobey his employer, there was a short vocal exchange then TazirVile turned and charged at him. Kalach Speelin winced when his employer grabbed his co-worker by the throat, heaved him up then slammed him up against one of the piles of junk and trash.

"Now you listen here you stool pigeon," Kalach heard his employer say to his co-worker. "I gave you an order and you best damn obey it! I'll have my foot so far up your ass if you come up and start your fussing on me again. My son is my worry, my son is my priority. Got that?"

"Yessir, Master Tazir." Azogti choked out. "Crystal clear, I h-hear and comply fully with your order."

"Good," TazirVile released the Goblin who slid down the pile of junk and trash then scrambled away. "let that be a lesson to all of you! My sons are priority! My family is of intense importance to me! I'll risk blood, skin, arm and leg of mine to have them all back at home where they belong!"

He went back to looking for his employer's son, he wasn't going to end his loyalty to his employer after seeing him discipline one of his staff and he wasn't going to stop being loyal to Mistress Angel or her sons, he forgave Lhaklar for fighting him and sending him flying towards a pile of brown, moldy and bacteria filled stuff that he still couldn't believe contained the remnants of a few jewelry items that he had considered taking up for his wife then had decided against it. He made enough to buy his wife a new jewelry item once a week, she didn't deserve anything old or anything thrown away. As he searched for his employer's son he thought about his employer's wife. He and she had hit it off rather well, he had been a new recruit for TazirVile Surfeit, had only been working for him for a year and a few months before Mistress Angel had come into the picture. He had acted nasty towards her a few times then, after the meeting had been called by Eldass Zultoa in the library and he had seen the older Goblin, and his employer's most trusted Goblin, Homsi Modulavich, sign AI, Mistress Angel's initials, on their Loyalty Papers he had started thinking about the girl. He had not followed in the two older Goblins example by signing Angel Irene's intials on his Loyalty Papers, a few others had not followed as well but they had had different reasons for not doing so. He had not signed his papers with his initials because he wasn't sure about her. His reason was simple: He didn't know her or anything about her.

It had taken him six months before he had written TZ, in his blood as was custom for a Goblin, on his Loyalty Papers, he had gotten to know TazirVile Surfeit some and regarded him as a right good, respectful man who only reprimanded when it was absolutely necessary to do. He wasn't like, for example, TrobrencusVile Surfeit, his mad great-great uncle who used his cane to get his employees to obey and fear him. He reprimanded by voice, it was rare that he utilized his hands against one of his employees and, Kalach had been told, he usually only had to do it once and did apologize for it at a later time. He had signed AI on his Loyalty Papers nearly ten months after Lhaklar's birth, he had gotten to know Angel and regarded her as a very nice, respectful woman who treated both his employer and his co-workers finely. He had turned into one of her most trusted Goblins, alongside Homsi, Eldass, Losal and Zshon. His brother and she were on good terms but, due to a few verbal tiffs between the two, they had decided by mutual decision to keep it as just employer's wife and employed instead of employer's wife and most trusted Goblin employee.

He had been asked one day if he and Homsi were related, it had been a simple question, not one meant to offend and he had known that. He had told his mistress parts of his life's history slowly, he had slowly gained her trust and had found her to be one of the most trustworthy beings in the universe and that had sort of cemented their relationship. He and Homsi Modulavich had no relation, he was of the Speelin family who typically was employed by the lesser affluent families while the Modulavich family was known to be a family that was employed by middle to very affluent families and who happened to be very well off in status. He had not known Homsi Modulavich until he had started working for Master Tazir, he thought of the Goblin as one very hard-working, respectful and polite man and he regarded him as a very good friend. He had told Mistress Angel this and had also mentioned that he had a wife and a daughter then he had clamped his mouth shut, he had decided to wait and see if she'd keep what he had told her to herself before going on further. Two weeks after he had told his Mistress the history of his and Homsi's families and about him having a wife and a daughter and had noticed that she had said not a thing on what he had told her, he decided to tell her some more information on him.

He had three other siblings, two sisters who had dropped out of Staffer's Academy to have families with two slum-bums who had left them soon after they had had their children and a brother who had gone to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic then had gone to Staffer's Academy only to drop out of the latter after he had gotten hooked on drugs. His older brother had let the drugs take him, he was still on them and, pitifully, he had no drive or ambition to do anything but sit on his rump and get drunk and high and count the invisible sheep and wolves that magically appeared on the wallpaper of the walls of his one room apartment. He and Abevo had been the only two that had stuck to getting an education and then getting employed. Abevo had a way of being shy and a bit hard to get along with but he came along after a while, he was cautious as well, as was custom for a Goblin, but he was easy to get along with after he got to know one well. After he and his brother had graduated from Staffer's Academy, he had graduated fifty places from top of his graduating class while his brother had been slightly ahead of him, they had started looking for work. He and Abevo, who was five years younger than he was, had done two hundred and five years at Staffer's Academy, getting the typical education and also getting education in the standards of a burly Goblin who would most surely be picked to be their employer's muscle men. Although he and Abevo had graduated at the same time, it had been his younger brother who had found work first. Abevo had been approached, interviewed then hired by some woman who raised and raced race horses, who had a large mansion and quite a lot of stuff that a burly Goblin would be needed to tend, who lived oversea five months after he had graduated from Staffer's Academy and, as fate would have it, they had been separated.

He and Abevo, being the two younger brothers as Bjorglo was ten years older than they were, had made a blood-oath as young kids to always stick together. He and his brother were damn close and, when his brother had gone overseas to work for his new employer and had been separated from him, he had felt an empty feeling fall over him. He had gone into a depressed state, had felt as if he had lost his other half and that had cost him two possible jobs. After a year, he had been employed by a Norslen Axlett, a rich man who got drunk too much and who liked both the men and the women a little too much. Norslen Axlett had been one man he wanted to get away from soon after stepping foot in his residence. Norslen came off as nice sometimes, mean at others, nasty and downright rotten at others and he also had a tendency to flirt with his hired help. He had just one thing to thank that man for and that was his wife. Lege Sargieo was one fine Goblinette! Long, red locks of hair that was a little stringy, a triangular-shaped face that had pretty lips, a short, thin nose and two light blue eyes and a petite body. He had fallen for her fast and had tried to ask her out twice, his nerves had gotten in the way and he had just walked away. On the third attempt he got it all out, he took her out for a meal and then they started dating a week later. Six months afterwards, he proposed and she said yes and it was on that night that she and he had created their first child.

Norslen Axlett had not been happy, he had come upon the man insulting his newly wed, and newly pregnant, wife several times and he had also caught the man putting his hand on his wife's stomach twice which had nearly made him explode. When Lege had been six months pregnant, his employer had said oops then had stuck his foot out, she had fallen down the stairs and their child had nearly been lost. He had confronted the man for his "oops" moment and he had near been kicked in the ass but he felt good for what he had done and then there had been two events that had sealed his fate with Norslen Axlett. His employer grabbed his seven month pregnant wife by her neck after she had sat down for a short rest then he had dropped her, he and his employer had fought over than and then... a week later his employer tried to rape his wife.

Lege had been in the kitchen, making up one of Norslen's kids a meal, when Norslen Axlett had walked in. He had grabbed his wife, thrown her to the floor then he had climbed up on top of her. Lege had given him a good knee in the groin, had crawled out from under him then had said that she had had enough. She quit. Right then and there she quit her job. She came home to their one room apartment and when he had come home after work she had thrown herself at him. She had told him, he had gotten so blistering mad that he had grabbed the keys to their car and had driven right back to Norslen Axlett's mansion. He had gone inside, had grabbed Norslen Axlett from his bed then he had pummeled him good. He had quit afterwards, gone home, then had found the law on him. A charge for assault had been put on him, he was arrested and then he sent in a charge for domestic abuse in regards to his wife. He had sued Norslen Axlett for the abuse he and his wife had gone through, had won and had gotten $3000 from his case. He had put that all towards getting a new apartment far away from the man, had taken his wife from the location and they had settled in. His wife had given birth to their first child, things had looked great but... there was no money coming in so they were very behind on the bills. He began looking for work, found two jobs and was working them two jobs, doing sixteen hours days for six days of the week.

He had decided to end the telling of his history quickly after telling all that to her, he had said that Tazir had found him, had interviewed him and then he had been hired only to find that his own brother was also an employee of his new employer. His reason in ending the telling of his history and giving a half-untrue ending to it was because he had thought that Angel was much too interested. She had looked like one of them kids when it came to story time, had been taking it all in deeply and that had made him become suspicious. He had gone off to work, he had not spoken to her for a week then, after he had noticed that she had, again, kept everything he had told her to herself he had decided to open up a little more. He had found her one day in the library, she had been two weeks pregnant with Young Master Hazaar at the time and was looking rather radiant. He had walked up to her, had asked her lightly if she would sit and then he had told her a few things that he was doing his best to keep secret. His deep, dark secrets and the real ending to his history.

"Remember when I told you about how my former employer tried to rape my wife?" he had asked her.

"Yes, horrible. Glad that you beat him up." his mistress had replied.

"I did a big number on the man, beat him up real good... after he raped me."

Yes, Norslen Axlett had raped him. He had grabbed him by the arm, had picked him up then had thrown him against the wall where he had gone between being concious and unconcious. Norslen Axlett had seen an opportunity to show his dominance and had acted on it. He had torn his pants off then had turned him around. He had only regained full conciousness after his employer had inserted his root into him and, when he had noticed what was going on, he had freaked. He had not let the man get a chance to ejaculate into him, he had ripped himself free then he had turned on the man. Norslen Axlett was now walking around with only one eye and one of his testicles had been severed, both courtesy of him. Norslen Axlett's wife had called the police, he had been arrested in their mansion and carted away. He had filed a report against his former employer for domestic assuault on his wife after he had been arrested and charged for assaulting Norslen Axlett and he had sued the man... he had won his case but it had taken some time, about four months to be exact and by that time he and his wife, who had had their child a month and a half after he had been arrested, were heavily in debt. They had not moved, they had had to stay put right in the apartment that was so near Norslen Axlett's mansion. Norslen had stalked him for the entire length of four months, he had found his car key-scratched with Norslen's Lover on the side, Norslen had broken two windows in the apartment that he and his wife lived in and, after that occurence, he had gone out to buy a gun just in case his family needed another source of protection. That had gotten him arrested again, his little gun purchase had gone against his parole, his act of protecting his family had gotten him into trouble and he had spent all of five days roasting in a jail cell with an inmate who had had his way with him twice. His purchase of a fire arm to protect his family from a man who was stalking and could well harm them had nearly caused his court case to be thrown out but the court system had pushed his case through after it had noted his freshly made charge of stalking against Norslen Axlett. It had taken a week of the court and the jury hearing him and his former employer out, Norslen Axlett had lied quite a lot and that had been well noted by the jury and the judge. He had won on that and his testimony and he had gotten $3000 back in damages.

He had a record, he was a Goblin of shamed history and thus, that would cost him quite a lot of jobs. Apparently his brother, who had been employed by TazirVile Surfeit after the man had gone overseas and had seen how well he was with the care and upkeep of the horses of his female employer, had not known this and had slid the man a piece of paper with his name on it. The man had a young daughter to think of and he also had his reputation to think of, both as an employer, a father and a ruler of his, at the time, single conquered galaxy so he couldn't employ anyone who had a questionable or shamed record. The man had driven over to the apartment, had rang the door bell and his wife had let him in. He got home after an unsuccessful day of job searching to find the man waiting for him in the kitchen. The interview had taken place, the man had said that he had good credentials and that he was hiring him and, since the man was being honest with him and since he didn't want the man's image tarnished, he told him of what had happened with his first employer. The man had listened then, after he had told him all of what had happened he had stood up, had excused himself then had left.

He did not seen TazirVile Surfeit again for two weeks after that, he had figured that the man had walked fully off with intention of not hiring him because of his arrest record. Well, he was wrong. The man had checked into his record, had noted that he was telling the truth and then he had called him up. Due to his telling the truth on what had happened he had won the man's trust and the man had asked if he was still interested in the job. He had talked to his wife an hour after the phone call and then had decided to go for broke. TazirVile Surfeit needed the help, he was willing to look past the arrest record and his former employship record and employ him and he had offered them housing in the staff's quarters under his mansion. He had taken the job and he was damn glad for it, he had a fine job, good friends who looked past his past history and he liked where he was in life. He and his wife had had two other children since moving into his employer's staff's quarters, a boy and a girl and his close relationship had been rekindled with his brother. He had turned into one of his master's mistress' most trusted Goblins soon after he had told her this and Bile had turned into being his, and Losal's, constant shadow. He'd almost always find the youngster following after him, having a sort of playful stalkers stance to him that he'd abandon soon after he was discovered.

"Hazaar," Bile whispered lowly.

"Yeah,"

"Be a good Little Brother for me and provide a distraction." Bile said.

"Wh-... hell no!" Hazaar exclaimed in a whisper. "Why the hell should I?"

"Lhaklar's in that shed over there," Bile pointed at the lone shed that two Goblins were walking towards. "someone needs to distract the Goblins so I can go in and get him."

"And then you'll have me to save!" Hazaar whined. "That's making a new problem."

"You'll be fine, just run and they'll cha-..."

"You forgotten that my father is in the area? So what if the Goblins chase after me. My father will probably jump out from some place or my grandfather or-..."

"Do some of them fancy turns of yours, do some of them Elemental Power moves you've created." Bile said, he then reached over and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "I promise you, I will help you after I h-..."

He had grown tired of waiting in the car and had decided to chance it, after he had pulled his coat up over his head he had leaped out of the car then had ran for the fence. He had volted over the fence like it was nothing then he had ran into the dump, looking for his brothers. Soon after he had entered the dump the sun had hid itself behind some clouds that he knew wouldn't stick around for long. He had taken advantage of the short-term sun-cover and had raced across the dump heading for where he had seen his brothers heading. He had seen that Bile and Hazaar were hiding behind a pile of junk, they looked as if they were getting ready to run forward which was not a wise thing to do with all the Goblins running about. He was surprised he hadn't ran into one of the creatures, they were all over the place it seemed. He had done a quick check of the area around him by placing his hands on the ground, he had felt each and every movement and then, by use of his Elemental Ground Power he had seen each and every being in the area. Lhaklar was hiding in the shed and there were two Goblins headed towards it, his brother looked scared to death and he didn't blame him. Goblins walking around, looking for him. Their father standing around, he looked injured and he also looked very pissed off and then there were the two with him that looked as if they were also not very happy. Cheshire Ubalki, his father's stepfather who was his grandfather, looked very serious and his son, Efagti, who was his uncle, looked equally serious and equally upset. There was short cloud cover, the clouds would drift away from the sun within thirty seconds to a minute, he had little time to run in and get his brother. Lazeer took in a deep breath then ran forward, when he was five feet from the shed he threw his arms back then he drew them forward. A white acid splashed against the side of the shed, made it explode and that exposed his older brother. The two Goblins noticed his brother and ran forward while two other Goblins fired their energy attacks at him, he dodged past the attacks, grabbed his older brother then, together, they raced out of the area.

"Holy shit, Lazeer!" Lhaklar exclaimed. "I am damn glad to see you!"

"Same here with your ugly mug." Lazeer replied. "Looks like you've got Goblins nipping at your heels."

"That and a very pissed off daddy."

"What'd you do to piss him off?" Lazeer asked.

"Fought him, used my finger knives on him to get away." Lhaklar replied, he then showed the remaining finger knives on his left hand. "He took two of them while one of the Goblins managed to slip another off."

"Damn! Well you have two left so let's use 'em."

He and his brother jumped and hid themselves behind a pile of rusty car bumpers, they ducked to avoid being seen then they both got a surprise. Bile and Hazaar popped up out of the ground on a ground tornado, blowing their cover, and then they found themselves running again. Lazeer had only ran a short distance when he noticed that the clouds that were in front of the sun were drifting away. He ducked and ran underneath an overhanging board but that offered him no cover at all. The sun, a big orange ball in the sky which gave the Earth both heat and light, shone down. The big, orange ball that was a star that had a diameter of 865,374 miles and was ten million degrees on the surface while being twenty-seven million degrees at the core shot its rays down on him. He did his best to keep himself covered but it was of no use, the rays hit his left eye and they struck a serious nerve with it. He screamed at the top of his lungs, fell to his knees, slid a few feet then found himself being picked up and carried. He was crying, large tears were coming out from his photo sensitive left eye and that eye was also throbbing something awful. The pain was getting worser by the second... it literally felt like his eye, with all the nerves still connected, was being assaulted by large amounts of hot sauce. It hurt him! Lazeer had no idea how long he had been carried but, as soon as he was placed down he reached into the left front pocket of his coat. He pulled out the bottle of eye drops that he had removed the label on as he found the label offensive to him then he leaned his head back. He felt a hand guide his wrist over his left eye just as he squeezed the bottle.

"You alright?" Bile asked, he had doubled back soon after his youngest brother had fallen, had grabbed him up then had ran off. He had been shot twice by two light yellow energy blasts but he had not been worrying about the pains they had caused. He had been worrying about his baby brother. "Can you see?"

"I can, thank you." Lazeer asked, he blinked his eyes twice and saw that Lhaklar and Hazaar were standing nearby. "That's the last of them. The last of my drops. All I have left on me are them Visine things that the humans use."

"There's a large mass of clouds coming in, we made it to the back of the dump and-..."

"Where are we?" Lazeer interrupted his oldest brother.

"In a shed, one of them leaners." Bile replied.

Either the Goblins had seen him duck into the shed with his brother in his arms or his adopted father had felt and seen him and his brothers through using his Elemental Ground Powers because, all of a sudden, the shed was swept clean off of him and his brothers. Several boards fell on Lazeer and made him fall to the ground, they covered him up nicely. Hazaar fell to his rear then he got up quickly while he and Lhaklar stood on their feet. They were surrounded, on all sides there were Goblins. Bile looked at his brothers, nodded his head then began sending out attacks. He made several ground arrows and spears and sent them flying then he kicked out fire arrows, fire balls and then he sent out some fire rings. Hazaar sent out some smoke rings that exploded when they touched a Goblin then he breathed out some blue fire that sent the Goblins who had advanced on him packing. Lhaklar made two golden air whips and began swinging them, he sent several Goblins back then felt a burning sensation on his back. He turned around and that was when he saw his father. He had time only to yell one word then he was flattened to his back.

He was mad, he was upset and he was sick of all the running. He was going to end all of this and now. TazirVile Surfeit looked at his secondborn son after he had felled his firstborn then sent a small ball of clear acid at him that, after it struck his leg and exploded, made him drop to his knees. He then looked at Bile who, as surprising as it seemed, had one hell of a well-muscled body. He sent out four flaming balls then he cast out a white lightning bolt, Bile sent the flaming balls back then grabbed the white lightning bolt. He absorbed it into his body then, just as TazirVile was swinging his arm back to send out an acid attack, he opened his mouth and the white lightning bolt sizzled towards him. TazirVile was struck in the side, he fell to the ground, rolled twice then jumped to his feet. He rolled his arms back then shot them up then forward, great globs of green acid flew at his stepson, when they collided with his chest they exploded and he fell to his knee, TazirVile didn't let him get up. He made a colony of vines rise up from the ground to encircle the youngster but... Bile had either anticipated this or he knew how to get out of them because he leaped up high, made his body become engulfed in flames of golden fire then he dipped his body down. TazirVile leaped out of the way to avoid the attack that his wife had called the Body Comet then he turned and kicked his leg up. He kicked out a strand of black acid, made it into an acid rope, then he made it wrap around his stepson. Sparks flew out as Bile both struggled against the pain that his body was experiencing that the acid rope was giving him and he fought to get away from the rope of acid. Before the youngster succumbed to the pain, there was a roar. TazirVile looked to the side and saw that a mint-green Tiger with light green stripes was running at him.

Lhaklar, in his Tiger-form, leaped onto his father and tried to get a hold of his shoulder with his teeth but all he caught was air. He clawed at the man's arm, made a few good scratches then found himself reeling backward. His father, who still had his brother in the rope of acid, made a similar acid rope and threw it at him. Lhaklar tried to jump away but the rope, acting like a snake, wrapped around the ankle of his Tiger-form then coiled up and around his body. He felt his clothes burning right off of him, he felt his flesh burning and he heard his screams. After twenty seconds he lost his form, he tried to send out an acid attack of his own but his hands had been injured, each of the suction cups on the tips of his fingers had slits in them, so he couldn't use his acidic powers. He tried sending out an energy blast but it refused to come out, his powers were canceled out by the pain he was feeling by the rope that he had wrapped around him that his father had thrown at him.

"Hang in there... Lhaklar..." Bile strained.

"Bring four sets of cuffs, now!" TazirVile shouted. "I want these two cuffed at the wrist and ankle."

Hazaar swung his wand out from the loops on the waist of his pants and swung it, he sent clouds of black at the two acid ropes that were wrapped around his two older brothers. There was an explosion then Bile and Lhaklar dropped to their knees, Hazaar put himself in front of them then really began fighting his father. He sent lightning and ground attacks at his father then he started fighting with his wand. He sent several blue bolts, a cloud of black which sent his father reeling back a few steps then he swung his wand back, once he had swung his wand forward then flicked it a gust of yellow air that had sandy particles in it flew towards his father. He kept the breeze going for a few seconds then, after he let it drop he ran forward. His father had been knocked down, he wanted to keep him down so he made two vines rise up and wrap around his legs. His father looked down once then he looked up and yelled. He reached into his coat then tore out a wand that was a brown stick that had a gold strand twisting around it. Hazaar saw that on the top of the wand there was a purple, clear glass ball and right underneath of it, held in the gold band that went around the top of the wand, was a purple amethyst stone. The wand looked as if it had cost quite a lot of cash, it was surely not one of them beginner wands like the one he had in his hand.

"Ferrum nigra," Hazaar said, a cloud of black rushed out from the end of his wand and went right towards his father.

"Repellere," his father said, he then swished his wand to the side and the cloud of black that hid sharp, black daggers was thrown up. "locum anulum."

"Reditum!"

Hazaar yelled, the ring of smoke that his father had sent out at him would have burned him pretty badly and would have most surely taken him out of the fight. Hazaar decided to get down and nasty with the spells and charms, if his father was going to send black smoke rings at him that would give him some very bad burns then he was for damn sure not going to stand around and send the innocent spells that would only slightly injure his opponent. Hazaar sent out a strand of white then he leaped up and twirled. He made the ground in front and behind his father explode then he sent a gust of flames down at his father who yelled out in shock. He was just powering up his wand to send a wave of black and purple water that would burn his father when he saw a bright flash. His father swung his wand down then, while keeping his wand pointed down at the ground, he circled around. When there were a ring of white around him he stopped then, after looking up, he shot his wand forward. The ring of white shot out at Hazaar so fast that he couldn't repel it or duck to avoid it. He was sent flying back, his arm near broken when he landed ten feet away near the base of a pile of trash.

"Cuff him!" TazirVile yelled. "All of them, cuff them all!"

Bile struggled to his feet, the acid rope had really knocked quite a lot of the fight he had in him clean out of his system. He had burn marks on his chest, arms and waist, his hand was bleeding badly and he had landed wrong on his right ankle. The second he was on his feet he made his hands into fists, he swung at the Goblins that were coming at him. Two jumped back in shock, two more were knocked a few feet back by one of his punches and then he reached down and grabbed a Goblin by the shoulders. He threw that Goblin behind him then he stomped his foot down, the Goblin wheezed and coughed behind him, trying to regain the wind that he had lost. Bile had just swung both of his fists at Efagti, who had rushed in to try to end his fighting, when he felt someone jumped onto his back. In one movement, he went over backwards. When he got up he saw that it had been Cheshire that had jumped onto his back, he looked at him as if he was offended then he got up. When Bile saw that there were two Goblins that had Lhaklar by his arms he charged forward. He grabbed the two Goblins by their shoulders then banged them into each other, he had just grabbed his brother by his arm when his legs were yanked out from underneath of him. Both he and Lhaklar went down together, his brothers right knee slammed down on his groin and that took the fight he had right out of him. A Goblin cuffed his hands behind his back while another cuffed his ankles together, two more Goblins were cuffing Lhaklar's hands and ankles. When Bile looked to the side he saw that Hazaar had already been restrained.

"Should we search them, sir?" a Goblin with brown skin and blue eyes who was wearing an army uniform asked their father who was walking up.

"Yes, search and take everything you find on their person from them." their father replied. "I want them all taken back to the ship and put up in a room. I want five of my staff to guard the door, hear me?"

"Yessir," the Goblins all replied.

"Sir, there was another with them." a brown-skinned Goblin that had a large nose and a very wrinkled brow who was wearing what looked like a brown tuxedo, said.

"Oh really, what'd he look like?" TazirVile demanded to know.

"Uhhh... he had periwinkle blue colored skin and-..."

"Find him and bring him to me."

Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar were all laughing inside, the sun had gone behind some clouds that would keep it hidden for about five minutes and where was their father standing? Right near the remains of the leaning shed that they had hid in before it had been destroyed by the Goblins. Lazeer, as if on que, leaped out from under the debris then swung his fist. TazirVile, who had no idea that he was standing near the youngster, felt the punch then turned around. Lazeer swung his fists hard, throwing everything he had into the man who was his father who still had yet to realize that he was his son, he laced his fists with a coating of acid and that sent his father back a few feet. Lazeer was contemplating on going for his wand when his father rushed towards him, he dodged left to avoid being tackled then he combined his hands to make a big fist. He swung that down right on the small of his father's back, his father yelled out in pain then reeled around. Lazeer felt his father's fury right then and there, his father landed both left and right blows onto his face, chest and stomach and he tried to kick him as well but he managed to jump back in time. It took a few seconds before he got back into the groove of fighting and when he did he decided to use a few punch then run manuevers on his father. He swung his fists at his father twice, ran back two steps then lunged back in, the man was strong, he could take a punch but he did have his weak areas. Just as Lazeer swung his fist to land another blow on his father's face he felt his feet being yank out from underneath of him. He looked back once, saw it was a Goblin then he kicked his foot back, the Goblin leaped back to avoid the golden fire blast that he had sent his way, with the Goblin off of him, Lazeer rolled over then jumped to his feet.

Two minutes had passed, he had been keeping time, he knew he had little time before he had to take cover and he had no drops left on him except for the Visine Tears which did nothing for his eye. The clouds above looked as if they'd be drifting away to expose the sun any second, Lazeer decided to try to take his father out by using one of his weakness. With a yell, Lazeer ran forward. His body met his father's with a meaty thwack then, while his father wrapped him up and tried to tie him into submission, he reached up and grabbed the elastic band that was around his head. His father released him just as his began to tear his goggled glasses off of him. He had just yanked the specks off of his father's face when the sun came out. His father shrieked at the top of his lungs just as he did but there was a big difference, his father was grabbing at both of his unprotected eyes while he was grabbing at only his left eye. Lazeer fought the pain, it hurt, it felt like a raging volcano was erupting in his eye, he felt as if his eye was being assaulted by real spicy hot sauce... oh shit it just hurt him but he fought it. He ran forward and began fighting his father, he landed blow after blow on the man, he drove him back some then, after he managed to knock the man down he turned and went towards his brothers.

"Forget me! Take that little twerp!"

The Goblins attacked from all directions, Bile yelled at the top of his lungs for his brother to look out but his yell was in vain. The Goblins grabbed his youngest brother by his arms and legs, they wrestled him down then they began to punch and kick him unmercifully. Lhaklar and Hazaar lunged forward, they tried to burn the cuffs that bound their hands but all they managed to do was make sparks fly out from the gold cuffs which burned their hands. Lazeer was screaming at the top of his lungs for a few seconds then he went quiet. There was the sound of metal striking metal then the Goblins all backed away. Their baby brother, the brother that had been born premature, who had said that he'd not survive but who had and the brother who had inherited the photo sensitivity from his father lay on the ground. He was breathing, they saw that his chest was rising up and down, but he looked as if he had been knocked out cold. Bile looked at his baby brother then he looked up and saw that the man who had adopted him and who had raised him for six hundred years as his own had three Goblins around him. One of the Goblins had take off his coat and had placed it over the man's head, TazirVile Surfeit was applying some drops to both of his eyes. After he had blinked his eyes a few times then had wiped away the tears that had fallen from them with a black silk kerchief he was handed his goggled glasses. He wrapped the elastic band around his head, adjusted the squishy, rubber-like glass-parts then stood up. TazirVile Surfeit walked right up to their fallen brother who had just regained conciousness, he looked down then, right before all of their eyes, he spit down at him. Lazeer shook his head then tried to roll over, Lhaklar yelled out in rage when he saw his father bring his leg up while Hazaar lunged forward. Lazeer yelled out in pain twice, his own father had walked around him and had kicked him in the stomach. As if having his eye causing him a great amount of pain, he now had to deal with the pain in his ribs and stomach.

"Are your orders still the same, sir?" the same Goblin who had asked if they should search Bile's, Lhaklar's and Hazaar's pockets walked up slowly. "Search them then-..."

"No. Teleport them to camp, have Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar in the same room." their father replied. "Make sure it has two beds, I want five of my staff guarding the door. No one gets in but me and no one gets out. Got me?"

"Yessir," the Goblin nodded his head, he then glared down at Lazeer who was cowering at his employer's feet. "and him?"

"Put him in a cell in the dungeon." their father replied. "I don't want this one anywhere near my sons. He is much too dangerous."

"Yessir," the Goblin bowed.


	31. Chapter 31

"Modulavich residence, who is this?" Kalach heard his co-worker, who still sounded a bit pained, say when he finally picked up the phone.

"Homsi, it's Kalach Speelin." Kalach said. "You available for a short conversation?"

"I'm available for a very short talk," Homsi replied. "what's up?"

"We got them."

Homsi, despite the pain in his sides and back that he was still feeling some days after the fight that had had with the general in defending his employer's wife and children, shot up from his old, comfy brown leather chair. He had been given a scare after being sent home after the fight that had happened a few days before, when his master had sent him home he had thought that he was being given the pink slip. The farewell paper. The you're fired stub that would forever mark him and his family as being scum due to the loyal employer giving the boot to his loyal employee who had disobeyed him. He had barely enough time to brace for his oldest daughter when he had walked into the door, she had just ran up and had wrapped him up in a big ol' hug. He had fought the yell, had fought pushing her away and by luck, his lovely wife had been the one who had come to his rescue. It had been 10:30 pm, much past her bedtime, she had obeyed her mother by going off to bed and he had been given the order to head his brown buns to bed as well. Not a problem for him, despite being terrified of possibly losing his job, he was damn tired. He had gone to the bedroom that he and his wife slept in and had had four of their five children in, had taken off his tuxedo jacket, vest, shirt, his belt with all the fine gadgets like the locator and communicator on it and his shoes and socks then he had climbed into bed. He had slept for hours, his wife had slid into bed with him a few minutes after he had climbed into bed but he had barely noticed, when he had woken up he had been groggy. The Homsi, wake up call had been rang, he had smelled bacon in the air and then he had sat upright.

The first few minutes of his first morning back from his unknown intentioned vacation had been fine, he had shook the sleep off of him, had rubbed his eyes then he had gone into the bathroom to relieve himself. He had been asleep for ten hours, how his bladder had filled itself when he had had nothing to eat or drink since before the fight was beyond him but he had used the toilet then he had finished undressing himself. He had felt nothing, no pains, no nothing when he had slid his pants and black briefs off. The pain had started as soon as the water from the faucet that stuck out from the wall slightly above his head and the system that was built into the sides of the shower had turned on. His wife liked the water to be luke warm whenever she took her showers, he liked the water to be hot. The second that hot water had hit his body he had shrieked out in pain. When he had looked down he had seen that his sides, started just under the armpit and ending just before the hips, were as black as the very word and boy were they ever hurting. He had switched the setting on the shower from normal to gentle, had cleaned himself gently then he had gotten the hell out of the bathroom.

Normally, after his morning shower, he'd grab a tuxedo and some matching shoes to go along with it from his and his wife's closet, put that on then do a little fixing up of the hair that stuck out from his ears before heading out for breakfast. He had no idea if he'd be wearing the brown, black or gray tuxedos with their ties and matching shoes again, for all he knew they might be the only thing that he had on his person after being canned to sell to make ends meat for his family. He had slid on a pair of brown pants, which he had gotten from his and his wife's dark brown walnut dresser that had a mirror attached to it, then he had grabbed a plain white t-shirt. He had been in so much pain that he had said fuck the shoes, he had slid on his light brown slippers instead then he had made his way down the hallway towards the kitchen. He had walked by Arenzoar and Dlahsleon, his two older sons, on his way there. They had said hello to him, he had said hello back then he had walked on.

He loved his job, he loved working for TazirVile Lajoshu Surfeit. It wasn't the money that he was working for now, with the signing of his loyalty in his own blood to the man he had signed his life and his family's lives over to him. Yeah, sure. The $1,250 a week was fine to stuff in his pocket. Yeah, sure. The most trusted status was fine to have but... the friendship was worth twice that. He worked for TazirVile Surfeit, he was TazirVile Surfeit's employee, but he had worked so hard for the man over the years and had gotten to trust the man so much that he and the man had become like very close buds. The man either went to him or Eldass when something came up that he needed advice on, such as childbearing or child raising or some other issue related to family, the man also relayed his physical problems with him and Eldass. Tazir had accepted the problems he had with his body, the severe eye ailment he accepted and dealt with, the easily burned skin he also dealt with and accepted... he had woken up a few days after Angel Irene had been caught and had found his bed wet from having ejaculated in his sleep, he had thought nothing of it, he was forever young, one of the eternal beings who could go on to father up to fifty children if he wanted to. He had collected his bedding then had taken it downstairs to the washroom. Eclaire had washed his bedding then had put it all back on his bed a few hours later. For a week he had seen his employer carting his bedding down to the washroom, each and every day and Eclaire was no longer allowed to wash his bedding. He did it himself and he made his bed himself after that first day. That had gone on for a a week and a half more before, finally, the man had had enough and had called him and Eldass into his office for a little chat.

Naturally, being a one hundred and fifty-five thousand, seven hundred and twenty-three year old man, he knew all about how a man worked between his legs. He knew how ejaculation worked, he knew why it happened and he knew what could happen if a man ejaculated into a woman. What he had confided in him and Eldass was a sort of fear. He was afraid of all the ejaculation episodes because he had done nothing to gain them. He had gone to sleep in his bed then had started dreaming of a fiery red-haired woman whose face was a black shadow from the eyes down to the nose. The woman in the dream had seduced him, she had been damn sexy but she had also been nice, respecting and polite. Eldass had suggested that their employer go to bed with the woman on his mind that night to see if the episodes stopped and their employer had done that. A new bed and bed frame had had to be ordered to be brought in after that night, the mattress was just too destroyed from the back-to-back ejaculating and the frame had been broken from their employers constant tossing, turning and thrusting.

The white juice firing, as Eldass called it, had stopped soon afterwards. Their employer had gone back to acting like he always had and then the call had come in some months later. His older half-brother had invited their employer and Eshal to come over and stay at his nephew's place, his nephew's daughter-mate and their employer's not yet realized Universal Mate was five months pregnant and he was one of the wanted to be there to see the birth of the child that she had carried. He had heard the stories of what had happened after his employer had arrived at Master Vile's palace on Gamma-Vile, the first planet in the M-51 Galaxy that had been his and his family's birth planet that he had conquered before he had gone on to conquer the rest. Master Vile's hired help had had to change his bedding each and every morning for three mornings before he had taken it upon himself to do it himself. Angel had been rather rude towards him, she had been around people that were forcing her to do things their way and had marked each as hated and that had included his employer. After she had escaped and her first son had been born things had started happening fast.

His employer had gotten stronger mentally, verbally and physically, they had not understood why but the girl had done something to the man that was making him become a better and stronger man. Their employer had caught her a few times, had released her and had been hurt afterwards, one time his balls had been knocked out of their fleshed protectors by his father and he had had to hold him on the medical table to have them restitched back inside... It wasn't until his employer had captured Angel Irene on Ite that they had finally gotten the answers that they had wanted to know for so long but had been afraid to ask for fear for being reprimanded. Angel Irene was showing the signs of being TazirVile Surfeit's mate, she was experiencing a double sort of abdominal pains that only he could take away by a single touch of either his hand or finger. Whenever he went into one of his wet dream episodes and she tapped him, whether with his foot or with her elbow, he'd calm down and then... the union had been cemented by their first coupling which had made their first child. Angel Irene belonged to two men, she was the Family Wife and Mate of her father and she was the Universal Wife and Mate of his great-uncle. She had birthed three sons by his employer and one by her father and she had raised Eshal as her own daughter. She loved his employer, he'd always find her acting playful or flirtatious with the man. He had once walked around the corner to find his employer messing around with her hair while smiling down at her and he had heard the conversations. Full of love, full of affection. The two loved each other, they were attracted to each other... it was a perfectly made match-up. She had made his employer so happy and when she-...

"Homsi?" Kalach jogged him out of his travel down memory and thinking lane. "You there? Hello?"

"I'm here, sorry you caught me in one of them states where one heads back into the past." Homsi said. "What was that you said earlier?"

"We have Master Tazir's sons on the ship."

"What?" Homsi exclaimed, he grabbed his side after he yelled as it had started to hurt him some. "Young Master's Bile, Lhaklar and H-..."

"Yes! We have all of them here and we also caught that Reezal kid as well."

"How is Master Tazir?" lame question, naturally he was thrilled at having his sons on the ship and naturally, now that that Reezal kid was caught, he'd get some answers as to who he was.

"He was injured some in the capturing." Kalach said after a moment's pause. "All four fought us, all of us were fought, some of us got injured and that includes Master Tazir."

"I take it he is not too happy on that?" another lame question, TazirVile Surfeit was a kind, patient, understanding being but he did have a temper and he did have buttons that triggered that temper.

"Yeeeaah, he's not. He ordered that Young Master's Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar be put in a room and that Reezal kid be put in the dungeon." Kalach replied. "Shouldn't be long before we head home, Mistress Angel shouldn't be too hard to capture now since we have her sons."

"Keep me updated." Homsi said.

"Will do." Kalach replied, when the line went dead he hung up the phone.

His hands were hurting him like hell and he was damn sore but he was much more worried about his youngest brother that the pains he was feeling. The Goblins had teleported him, Lhaklar and Hazaar to the camp then a net had been thrown over them. It had been damn embarrassing to have everyone come out from the ships to see as they had been dragged along. His grandfather had sure shouted out for them to quiet out and so had his father when he had seen that he had been captured but, as soon as Lazeer had been teleported in, they had heard none of the yelling from their family. They had all yelled out for the Goblins to stop shoving, hitting and hurting their younger brother, when one of the Goblins had kicked Lazeer in the groin they had all screamed and then when the same Goblin had kicked Lazeer in the face they had tried to get out from under the net. No use, that damn net had been strong. They had been dragged inside the kite-shaped ship that had an alien skull on it with its tongue hanging out then they had been separated. Lazeer had been taken to a cell in the dungeon while they had been dragged along the purple carpeted hallway towards a room that had two beds in it.

"He doesn't have anymore drops on him except for the Visine ones," Hazaar said, his voice was heavy with concern and Bile detected a sob hidden behind it. "his eye will hurt him until he gets some eye medicine to relieve the pain."

"Not just his eye that is hurting him now," Bile said. "them damn Goblins kicked him badly all over. He could well have some broken bones, internal bleeding or-..."

"Stop!" Lhaklar exclaimed. "No more! No more, Bile!"

The carpet in the room that they had been thrown in was diamond patterned, parts of the diamonds were a teal color while the rest had been made a brown color, the walls were a light brown and the ceiling was a lighter brown and had a pebbled texture to it. The Goblins had complied with their father's order to have them put in a room that had two beds in it, both beds were queen sized and had teal and brown blankets with cream-colored sheets underneath them. The pillows, two large with two throw and one small, circular one placed near the center of the two larger pillows, all were encased in teal pillow cases that had a T and a Z stitched in gold thread in their centers. A short table sat on the left side of both of the beds, one had a normal lamp on it while the other had a lamp that had a large base that was teal colored and had light blue swirls on it. A large, light blue vase sat on the table next to the first bed while a plant sat on the surface of the table that was next to the second bed. An elegant, fainting couch that was dark red sat at the foot of the beds, there was a normal couch that was dark blue placed off near the wall and next to it sat a dark brown oak dresser that had a 50" screen mounted above it. Hazaar was standing near one of the corners in the room, he was near the walk-in bathroom while Lhaklar was seated on one of the beds. Bile was fighting to not pace about. He was nervous. He wanted his youngest brother in the room with him and his brothers and he wanted his mother.

"Punch on the door, Bile." Hazaar said. "Pound it open or something. Get us out of here!"

What did he have to lose? He was caught, his brothers were caught and he was angry and upset at the same time. Bile ran at the door, when his two hundred and fifty pound body collided with the brown wood there was a splintering sound, the hinges clanged, one gave way while the other stayed tight. The five burly Goblins, one being Abevo Speelin, that were standing in front of the door turned around quickly, they had all been placed in front of the door to keep guard of it. As soon as they heard the door being pounded on and the wood splinting they started working fast. Abevo ran up with an iron bar just as Bile's left hand went through the wood, he jabbed the iron bar at Bile's hand quickly, there was a yell of pain behind the door, the hand disappeared and another Goblin did a repairing spell that repaired the door fully. Bile shook his hand once, his reddish-green blood splashed up against the wall, was absorbed into the wall and once Lhaklar saw that he lost it. He stood up, threw his coat off of him then ran at the door. Together, he and Bile pounded and yelled to be let out. They managed to get the top half of the door open before being sent reeling back by a yellow energy blast by one of the Goblins. The door was repaired quickly after that.

"Bile," Lhaklar sat upright, his chest was hurting him greatly now and he felt dizzy. "th-there's... there's no way, man."

"Lhakie?" Bile got up then walked over to his brother quickly. "You alright?"

Hazaar started crying right at the moment when his older, full-brother fell into an unconcious state. He thought that his older brother had passed away and that had gripped him with a sadness that Bile couldn't wipe away. Bile ran over to his younger brother, grabbed him up in a hug then he picked him up and carried him over to one of the beds. Lhaklar was breathing, he was alive, after all the fighting he had over exaggerated himself, his temperature had gone up and the pounding on the door and then being blasted back had been the clincher to what he could take. After Bile placed Hazaar down on the bed he went over and retrieved Lhaklar. His older brother weighed a hundred and eighty pounds, he could lift that but he struggled in doing so each time. He carefully picked his brother up then walked him over to the bed that Hazaar was lying on. Bile then decided to find something to help bring his brothers temperature down, he was burning up and that was not good. Bile quickly leaned down and tore off his pant legs, he then went into the bathroom, he ran the water from the sink until it got real cold then he held his torn off pant legs underneath of the water. When he returned from the bathroom he placed both of his torn off pant legs on Lhaklar's head.

"Hazaar, get a grip please." Bile said. "Lhaklar's fine, he's sleeping, that's all."

"Wh-what're you doing?" Hazaar snuffled, he wiped his face with his coat sleeve.

"I need you do do as I say for you to. Okay?" Bile said. Hazaar nodded his head then got up from the bed. "Go into the bathroom, fill up the tub with about six inches of ice cold water. We need to get Lhaklar's temperature down, he's burning up."

He did as he was told, he ran into the bathroom to the bathtub then turned the cold water dial on the faucet. When the water was ice-cold he put the plug in the drain then stepped back. Hazaar began to think of what all had happened in the past ten minutes, his brother had come home to find that the apartment had been robbed and their old man waiting for him, he had fought their father and then he had ran quite a long distance to get to the dump before contacting them. He had probably ran a lot after he had contacted them, then he had hid himself. He had fought their father after he, Bile and Lazeer had showed up, they had all injured that man some and that had pissed him off greatly. The last he had seen of his father, he had been swarmed by his Goblin staff and military. They had congratulated him and then one of them had pointed out about the car that was parked in the parking lot beside the dump. He had no idea where his father was, he had not teleported to his camp after he and his brothers. When the water had rose up a little past six inches Hazaar walked forward and shut the water off. He then walked out of the bathroom and helped Bile carry their brother.

"Your coat," Bile said after they had undressed their brother then had put Lhaklar down in the bathtub. "take it off. You'll overheat with it on."

"Okay," Hazaar took his coat off then threw it out of the bathroom. It fluttered down to the floor right in front of the bathroom entrance. "d-do you think th-..."

"Now go get you a drink from the faucet. Keep hydrated. We've all had a hard run and fight, we need to keep ourselves calm, cool and hydrated." Bile said.

"Okay," Hazaar said, he went to the sink and started taking mouthfuls of water from the spigot.

"Use your-... oh disgusting! That's how diseases are gained!" Bile grimaced. "Use your powers to get a drink of water, don't risk getting sick from drinking from a bacteria filled faucet end."

"I can't use my powers, they're cancelled out in this ship completely." Hazaar said.

"Then use your hand. Cup it under the water then drink whatever water you collect from it." Bile said.

Lhaklar, when he woke up, noticed right off that he was sans everything but his underwear and that did not settle well with him. He shot upright in the tub then reached down to see if he was still there, thinking that his father had decided to off his manhood after he had fought him. When he found himself intact and then saw Bile and Hazaar in the room, he calmed down some. He drank quite a lot of water in twenty minutes time, used the bathroom then exited the bathroom after he had found a towel to dry himself off with. He only put on his pants, shoes and socks, his shirt was in tatters so he decided to not wear it. He had no idea where his jacket was, he hoped that his father had decided to have a heart and take that back with him as he had liked that jacket quite a lot. Like Hazaar, he had seen that his father had remained and he had heard one of the Goblins that had surrounded the congratulate his father on the success of capturing him and his brothers say something about the car. He was hoping that his father would send his mother's Buick Lucerne to his mansion, his mother liked that car a lot and for her to be able to keep it would be a fine act on his father's part. Lhaklar looked up sharply when he remembered about finding the apartment robbed and his mother not knowing about it or about him and his brother's being held captive by their father.

"Bile, you have your communicator on you?" he asked.

"No, left it in the car." Bile replied. "Hazaar?"

"I have mine, not sure if it's useful as I fell on it."

"Gimme," Bile said, Hazaar fished his communicator out from his pants pocket then handed it over to his older brother. Bile pressed the button on the side at once then pulled the black box that had a large, black netted speaker in the center up to his lips. "Ma... Ma, it's Bile, can you hear me?"

"...ile? Wha... go...n?" Bile and his two brothers near jumped for joy, their mother could be contacted. She was coming in broken but they could get in contact with her and tell her what was going on.

"Ma, do not go back to the apartment!" Bile said seriously. "It's been ransacked! Dad got into the shield and took all of our material items."

"She's coming in broken, can she hear us clearly or are we being picked up brokenly?" Hazaar asked.

"Ma?" Bile said, concerned was heavy in his voice. "Ma, did you get that? Ma, pick up please!"

"...ile, hrd ev...th...ng... you... id. How... you... ow... is? Whe... ur... br... hers?"

"Dad captured us! Lhaklar came home before we did and they were there waiting. He fought dad, injured him then ran to the dump. He contacted us, we went to help and we had this big fight with dad and a bunch of Goblins and Cheshire and Efagti. We're in his ship, ma... they separated us from Lazeer. They put him in the dungeon, they're treating him horribly!" Bile hoped his mother had gotten all of that, he had said it all as fast as he could as he was afraid that someone would drop service or connectibility in the ship for communicators. "Ma?... Ma, did you get that? Ma!"

"...ot... ost..." the connection was coming in so broken that Bile and his two brothers were growing very scared. "...ot... apt...ored. I be... ming... et... u... ang... n."

In the thirty minutes that had followed the fight he had had with his sons he had been congratulated on a mission well done by his staff and military Goblins and by his stepfather and younger half-brother then he had checked out a vehicle that one of his staff had noticed that was parked in the parking lot near the area where he and his sons had fought. He had found some things in the car that he was confused about, the jacket had Bile's DNA on it so he knew that the boys had driven the car to the location which, for him, was not a good thing as they were much too young to be driving. The bags that had a few items that looked as if the boys had bought for themselves he had spell-sent to his mansion on Moas quickly without a second thought, the bags that had the female items in them he had merely looked at for a few minutes before sending them off to his mansion on Moas as well. Why would his sons need things like dresses, female shoes, jewelry and perfumes? His first thought had been that, possibly, one or more were trying to attract a girl by buying her some gifts. They were at that age where they were noticing the opposite gender, same went for if one or more were into the same gender. His second thought had been that the boys had gone shopping for their mother, had picked up some things for her to surprise her. That second thought had been rather strong for him so he had decided that the female items in the bags were for his wife and not for some girl that the boys were trying to impress and get in on. The car had shown traces of DNA from Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar and it had also had traces of DNA from his wife and one other who he took as the Reezal boy that he had ordered to be put in the dungeon. Following the discovery of his wife's DNA in the car, he had spell-sent the car to the garage that was beside his mansion. He figured that if the car was his wife's then surely she'd want to keep it and if not, no problem. He'd take care of sending the car away to be turned into fuel for another vehicle or, possibly, he's send it to one of them museums that was looking for vehicles from other planets to have in their showcases.

After he had sent the car away he had teleported to camp, more congratulating had happened, he had accepted it then he had walked off to his ship. He had just to hear the echoes that rang throughout the hallways of his ship to know that his sons were fine, they were yelling about being held captive and about the Reezal boy, normal stuff, stuff that he didn't bother worrying himself about. He had gone straight to the medical chamber on his ship, had slid his coat and tuxedo off then he had slid onto the table. One of his Goblins had been at the panel, tapping out the commands, he had instructed the Goblin to not let the table heal up his arm and leg injuries, just the rest but leave them injuries intact. The Goblin had obeyed his order, a majority of his injuries had been tended and then he had slid off of the automated medical table. He had gone straight to his bedroom chamber on his ship for a quick change of clothes as the outfit he had worn earlier was now unwearable. He was near wearing a dark gray tuxedo with a light gray vest over a white, long sleeve, button down shirt that had laced cuffs that had gold thread stitched on the hems. Before he had left his bedroom chamber he had grabbed a short belt. No, he wasn't going to become his father, he wasn't going to beat his sons all the time with a belt, he was going to use the belt on them but only this one time.

One had to know when to use such tools to discipline their children, he had had a belt used on him too much when he had been growing up, he'd do his damnedest to not ever use a belt on his male children again and he was not going to turn into his father afterwards by putting a tag on the belt that said Bile's, Lhaklar's or Hazaar's Medicine. He'd use the belt then he was going to burn it, he wanted no memory of the event and he wanted no souvenir either of its occurrence. He had asked his stepfather about proper discipline for male children just after Lhaklar and Hazaar had been captured, his stepfather had said that every once in a while it was alright to utilize a belt as a way of disciplining a male child that was unruly or was overly disobedient, other times it was just normal discipline. Had Eldass or Homsi of been on the ship and not back on temporary leave for their injuries he'd of asked them a few more questions on the subject. He had sent two checks through the mail for $2365 to both Goblins for their work-related injuries, he had known that they had both been injured and that they'd need time to recover from their injuries and that was why he had sent them home. Losal Khrelan had also been sent home, he had given out the order for the Goblin to head home to recover from the injuries that his own son had given him and the Goblin had complied with his order.

Right after he had left his bedroom chamber he had gone straight to the communications deck on his ship. He had shut every link of communication off, from telephone to communicator to screen. Only he could turn them back on and he'd only do that after he had his wife on his ship and was preparing for take off. He had plans that, soon after he had disciplined his three sons, to head right back to the apartment and wait for his wife. He'd wait for her, talk to her after she got back then, if she put up any fuss, he'd do a light fight with her before stepping to the side and letting one of his accompanying Goblins shoot her with a sleeping dart. He'd find out about the Reezal boy that was in the dungeon soon after while on the ride back home. He had been on the planet for too long, he had seen, captured, talked to and then seen his sons escape too much, it was time for his family to head back home where they all belonged. The Goblins that were around the door that led to the room that his sons had been put in stepped out of his way, only one stepped up to him and that was Abevo Speelin. TazirVile looked down at the Goblin as he reached into the right side pocket of his pants to take out the key that would unlock the door.

"They tried to pound the door down, sir." Abevo relayed the happenings of what had occurred during his absence. "Young Master Bile and Lhaklar, that is."

"Thank you, Abevo." TazirVile said, he pulled the key out from his pocket, inserted it into the lock then twisted it. "Keep your post, I'll be a short while in here before leaving to retrieve my wife."

"Yessir," Abevo bowed politely.

She had been feeling off for the past forty minutes, something had just not settled well with her and she had gotten very nervous about it. Her sons had not contacted her any during their outings, she was slightly miffed at that but had figured that they were just having such a good time that they had simply forgotten to call her. Her and Casey's day had gone well. She had spent a little money on herself, had bought herself two shirts and then a bracelet and then they had decided to go to a few bars, do some innocent flirting then head in to see a few movies in the theaters. They had done nothing ill or wrong with their outing, they had acted in a pure, innocent, adult fashion. There had been no over flirting with the fellows, there had been no asking for a male to hop in the car for a round of car sex and there had been no over shaking of the hips. They had seen four films, all old films that were being shown down at the Old and Ancient Reels theater in the center of Rock Spring, Wyoming. They had seen the movie Womb that had been released in 2010 that had starred Eva Green and Matt Smith first. That movie had been emotional, a couple who had said they'd be forever in love with each other had been separated after the boyfriend had been killed by a speeding driver and the girlfriend had decided to carry, give birth to and raise the clone of boyfriend in the hopes that he and she could still have a life together. The film had been rather powerful emotionally.

The second film had been one of them old Alfred Hitchcock films while the third film had been one of the new films of the generation. Angel had not been very interested in that film, it had consisted of tons of computer animated effects that had made the film have a real cheesy, cartoony, fake feeling to it. She had stared at the floor for the entire length of the film which had spanned near two hours then, after the film had ended, she and her friend had stood up then exited the theater. She was glad that there had been built theaters to specifically show films from the older, ancient days from when films were real, gritty and had a feeling to them of such rawness that it left the viewer wanting to see it again and again. She was considered old and ancient by the pure blood humans, she didn't have a liking for the newer films made from 2050 onwards. After she and Casey had seen the four films they had found themselves hungry and for a pretty good, damn reason. Lunch hour had been two hours behind them, it had been 3:12 in the afternoon. Casey had treated them both to a meal at one of the Chinese restaurants, they had eaten in silence and then she had started getting that feeling soon after finishing her fried rice, chicken, Fujian thick soup that had consisted of chicken, shrimp, clams, noodles, garlic, carrots, celery, rice and onions among other things. She had just started eating a Mantou, a Chinese dessert item that was typically plain steamed bread that had been served with a dish of condensed milk placed right between the eight rolls of steamed bread, when the feeling had encircled around her tighter. Soon after the meal, she had asked for her friend to take her back to Green River as she wanted to check in and see if her sons were alright.

That motherly instinct that told a mother when something was not right had been right dead on the money. She and her friend had been going down the tunnel, heading towards the town of Green River, when her communicator had gone off. Bile's words had come in strong, they had come in clearly but, for some reason, when she had replied back it had been broken. She had gotten some of what he had said, the apartment had been robbed, he had warned her to not go there and then had said that there had been a fight between he, his brothers and their father and a bunch of Goblins and that he and his brothers had been taken captive. Soon after the signal between her and her son had gone dead she had looked at her friend, had apologized for leaving in the fashion that she was and then she had teleported. She appeared behind some bushes that were behind her Universal Husband's ship two seconds later.

"You can take our things, you can enter the shield do as your merry heart pleases you but when it comes to my babies and their well-being-..." Angel thought angrily.

She decided to transform into an animal that wouldn't be instantly noticed, the animal that she picked was that of a Dragonfly. After she had become engulfed in a pink glow and after an energized breeze had blown off from her, she flew off as the form she had picked to become. Her form was fiery red, as were all of her forms, but her wings and eyes were an emerald-green color. With her transformation complete she flew around the ship then headed for the hatchway in the front of the ship. She waited for a few minutes, just hovered right above the door then, when one of the Goblins walked out from the ship, she flew in. She didn't take in any of the ship, it was familiar to her and she knew it well so she really didn't have to stop to take anything in. There was a yelling sound coming from down the hallway in front of her and then there was a crying sound coming from the hallway that went to the left. After a few seconds of thinking of where to go, Angel decided to head down the hallway on the left and towards whoever it was who was crying.

She flew by several Goblins, no one bat an eyelash at her and she was damn glad for that as, if someone would have noticed that there was a bug in the ship she would have had to drop her form and fight in her true form. Angel flew down the one hallway then made a turn, she followed the crying until, finally, she reached a metal door that had a little bit of space underneath the door and the floor. She dived down, flew under the door then hovered in place on the other side. She was in the dungeon, the crying had taken her straight to the dungeon in her Universal Husband's ship. It was still very much the same, her husband had the best cells in the universe put in his ship, no one could escape from them unless they had the key. There were just three cells in the dungeon, all were gold and all had a wooden floor that had a burnished copper finish to them. There were some whips and a sort of whip-like lasso which was a restraining tool hanging down from some hooks on the far off wall, a cabinet sat beside the hooks that had other torture devices in it that her Universal Husband had used from time to time and placed a bit far from the cells was a long, stone table that had four silver painted chairs that had burgundy cushions on the seats and backs pulled up to it. Angel had just taken in the dark brown leather chair that her Universal Husband sat in when he was interrogating his prisoners when she saw movement in the first cell. At once, she dropped her Dragonfly form, went to her true form then rushed forward.

"Lazie!" Angel exclaimed. "Lazie-Boo!"

"Mommy!" Lazeer cried, he stood up, ran a few feet then stopped. Angel noted that his arm was behind held back and that was when she saw that he had been cuffed to the cell. "Mommy, help me please!"

"I will, honey. Don't you worry." Angel said, she began looking around for a key to the cell that her youngest son was in.

"Do you have any drops on you? Anything at all?" Lazeer asked. "Mom, I used mine up and... and then the sun c-c-..."

"I have nothing on me, honey." Angel replied. "Do you have your Visine Tears on you?"

"No, they to-oo-k them." Lazeer was near to crying again.

"Sit down, baby. I'll get the key and you'll be freed. Sit tight and calm down okay. Breathe deeply."

She looked all over the room, she looked underneath the table, on the table's surface, she ran her hands along the walls and then she checked the hooks and the cabinet. There was no key in the room that went to the cell, there was a place where a key would be hung near the door but there was no key there. Angel turned around, looked at her son who was doing his best to calm himself down, then she walked over to the hooks and took one down. She bent the hook as best she could so she could use it to pick the lock then she walked over to the cell. Lazeer calmed down very quickly after she inserted the hook into the opening on the lock, it took a few tries before the lock made a clicking sound then, once the lock had been undone, Angel opened the cell's door. She walked in, went to her son, gave him a hug then began to undo the cuff that was around his wrist.

"I love you!" Lazeer leaped up, grabbed his mother in a tight hug then planted three kisses on her cheek. "Mom, you are amazing!"

"One down," Angel said, she gave her son an equally tight hug then gave him one kiss on his forehead. "three more of my precious babies to go."

She knew they'd be seen and the alarm would be sounded once they were seen after leaving the dungeon but she had no idea that it would come as soon as she and her son had left the dungeon. Kalach had been walking down the hallway at just the moment the metal door to the dungeon had opened, he had taken one look at her and her son then he had yelled out that she was in the ship. Angel shot out a red energy strand that sent the Goblin flying back then she swung her fists. The two Goblins that had ran down the hallway flew back, one struck the ceiling while the other struck the wall. Angel ran down the hallway, Lazeer was following close on her heels, he was so close that she could feel him breathing on her and she didn't mind that at all. Her son being so close to her meant one thing, he was safe. He was blind in one eye, would be until she could get him some more eye drops from one of the planets in the Zeta Reticuli system.

"What the hell is going on out there!" TazirVile shouted.

"Sir! Mistress Angel is in the ship!" Abevo yelled out from behind the door. "She has that Reezal kid with her."

"Catch them! Jam the doors, don't let them escape!"

When their father had walked in the first thing that had happened was Bile rushing out at him. Their older brother had been allowed to get within two feet of their father before the belt had been exposed. Their brother had put the brakes on, had stopped then had veered away from the belt after it had been swung. When Lhaklar had run out to grab their father he had been hit. Their father had been fast, he had turned on a dime and had swung the belt, the sound of the leather belt striking their brother's hip had been loud but their brother's yell of pain had been louder. Lhaklar had been the first to get the belting, their father had come at him fast and had grabbed his arm. He then had swung the belt, the belt had made whistling sounds as it had been swung and the belt had made meaty thud sounds as it had struck their brother on the hips, the small of his back and his buttocks but their brother's yells of pain had been far louder. Hazaar had been told that his father had never used a belt on his older brothers before, just his hands and voice when it had come to disciplining them. This was the first time a belt had ever been used on any of them, it made Bile a raging volcano while it had scared the shit out of him. Lhaklar, after he had been belted eight times, had been released. Hazaar had watched as his older brother had crawled over to the foot of the bed, Lhaklar was still huddled up against the bed, he was still crying, his pride was hurt and he looked plain scared to death.

Bile had gotten more beltings that Lhaklar, he had rushed forward and had felt the sting of the belt as it had smacked into his hip and that had disoriented him some. In his disoriented state he had not been paying attention to where the predator was, his adopted father grabbed him by his wrist then began swinging the belt. Two beltings had set his brother right, Hazaar had yelled out when he had seen his oldest brother strike out at his father then he had yelled out in horror after his father had kicked Bile's legs out from under him. Bile received twelve beltings in total from the belt, his adopted father had not let him get up any until he had felt that he had gotten his point across to him. When Bile had been released he had rolled over, he had held his hands up then he had crawled away. He had sat himself in front of Lhaklar, his pride had been broken but he wasn't crying as much as Lhaklar was. Hazaar had just backed himself up into a corner after his father had started walking towards him, he had thought that the corner was his best bet as it would hide his backside, when the commotion outside had reached a high pitch and the Goblin had said that his mother was in the ship.

"Go on, leave here. Go on! Leave the room! Leave me and my brothers alone!" Hazaar was thinking frantically. "Please! Go away! Go, leave me! Take your damn belt w-..."

Man was his father fast! His father lunged in, grabbed him by his arm then ripped him out of the corner just as he heard a pounding sound happen on the door. Hazaar pushed his father, he got close enough to push the man and then, when the man wouldn't release him or allow himself to be pushed away he tried to pull himself out of the man's grip. No use, his father was mad, there was a raging fury behind them goggled glasses that meant business. Hazaar screamed out in agony as his father belted him. The belt rose then fell eight times, each swing had made a whistling sound as it made its trip and each swing made a meaty thwacking sound once it had struck his body. His buttocks took most of the blows, he received two swings to his hip but the rest of the swings had struck his rear end. When his father was done with him he released him then stepped back. Hazaar crawled over to the corner and huddled there, great, large tears fell from his large, oval, deep purple eyes that were slightly slanted. Just as his father looked over at Bile and Lhaklar the door gave way behind him. Hazaar yelled out in relief when he saw his mother, with Lazeer following behind her, run into the room.

"M-m-mommy!" Hazaar cried.

"You stay right there!" TazirVile yelled, he then turned around and looked at his wife. "Baby,"

"Don't come near him, ma!" Bile yelled. "He's a crazy man!"

"You hush," TazirVile said to Bile, he then walked forward. "I was expecting to go and find you myself, instead I find you coming here to me."

"To my sons," Angel said. "what have you done to them? Why are they like this and why was our youngest in the dungeon of your ship?"

"I've disciplined them, Angel." TazirVile said strongly. "These boys, here, attacked and fought me and my staff the few military Goblins hat I had with me along with my stepfather and Efagti. What do you expect for me to do after such a happening? Say good job then serve them tea?"

"You expect for them to come to you with open arms after you've-..." Angel glanced down and saw the belt, her demeanor changed drastically. "You promised! You promised you'd never strike at a child of ours or at Bile with a weapon!"

"Baby, I had-..."

"You broke your promise!" Angel screamed. "You used a belt against my sons!"

"Y-... honey I had to. Look, these boys here attacked me and my-..."

"I don't give a damn! I'd of attacked you as well if you would have cornered or chased me!" Angel ran forward, grabbed the belt then ripped it out from TazirVile's hands. "What makes you think you can touch our boys with this offending thing! How would you like it if I used this damn thing on you?"

Lazeer looked back behind him and saw that there was a ring of Goblins in front of the door, if his mother was to get him and his brothers out she'd have to fight all of them Goblins and then have to fight his father as well. Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar were all crying, the belt had been used on them and their parents were fighting over it. Lazeer kept close to his mother even when she started swinging the belt at his father, she struck his father twice on the hips then she swung it low, intending to land a blow that would land between his father's legs, a blow that would take him out for a while. His father leaped back then ran forward, he grabbed his mother around the waist then he grabbed the belt and ripped it out from her hands. Lazeer ran forward, he could see only out of his right eye, his left eye was still paining him greatly and the pain was near to making him drop to his knees but his father putting his hands on his mother had somehow made he pain bearable. Lazeer swung his fist at his father, caught his father in the jaw then he saw stars after his father had swung his fist at him.

"You fool!" Angel screamed in horror, she dropped down to Lazeer's side, touched his chin then looked up. "You damn mad fool!"

"I have just about had enough of this!" TazirVile yelled. "Kalach! Abevo! Get your asses in here! Remove this kid, take him to the cells and lock him in then-..."

"No you don't!" Angel screamed. "Not my son you don't!"

"Do as I tell you!" TazirVile yelled at the two Goblins who had walked into the room but who had stopped after Angel had looked back at them.

"You touch a hair on my son's head and you'll be picking your teeth up off of the floor and out from the walls!" Angel yelled at the two Goblins.

TazirVile walked forward, wrapped his hand around his wife's shoulder and that was what sparked Angel to swing her fist up. Kalach, his brother and the rest of their co-workers behind them yelled out in shock as their employer fell back, his wife had landed the blow to end all blows. She had swung her fist up and it had collided with a man's delicate area, the area that the baby juices were produced, the area that made a man a man... Mistress Angel had punched their employer in the nuts and now she was standing over him. Kalach walked forward, he looked down at the youth that he had been ordered to remove from the room, thought about grabbing then taking the youth to the dungeon and then he thought against it. Abevo was looking at his employer, TazirVile Surfeit had his hands clamped between his legs, the cords in his neck were sticking out and he looked as if he was about to explode in rage. Young Master's Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar had sent up a cheer after their mother had punched their father in the groin, they all clamped their mouth's shut when their mother started talking, besides their mother's talking there was also Lhaklar and Hazaar's continued sobbing.

"You look for me and my sons for so long, I give you clues to where we are and you come here trying to hurt us?" Angel said, she dropped down to her knees then shoved her hands forward. She grabbed her Universal Husband by the front of his dark gray tuxedo jacket. "You come here to separate me from my sons? From your stepson and our three biological children?!"

"Absolutely not!" TazirVile yelled out in anger. "I would not and did not have that intention! I-..."

"You just said to have our youngest son removed from this room!" Angel slapped TazirVile in the face. "That is separating us!"

"Our?" TazirVile said after a few seconds of silence. "Who is that child, Angel?"

"I've given you clues that the newspapers have figured out that are so obvious a child could figure it out and yet you still don't know who he is?!" Angel yelled, when TazirVile said nothing Angel turned around, grabbed Lazeer who was clinging to her back then pulled him up to sitting right next to her. "This is our son! Our youngest! The one who was born at five and a half months gestation who was said to not live for long."

"Honey-..." TazirVile sat upright then gently pushed Angel back a few inches. "I-..."

"This is our son! LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit!"

The room grew very quiet after the explosion of gasps that had escaped from the Goblins that had all ganged up in front of the door, TazirVile looked at his Universal Wife in a sort of daze then he looked at the youth that his wife had claimed was their youngest son. This was the youth that he had seen at Zeta Ren, his wife had called him Reezal and she had signed him in at Goggles For All with the name of Reezal Bakerly. He had seen the youngster a few more times, had fought the youngster only once but had not been able to speak or get a real good look at the young fellow until now. He had not found any records of a Reezal Bakerly when he had done a search at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and the University of Telepathy for the kid but his half-brother had found a record that had been made out by a Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus at both schools and yes, it had been pointed out by the newspapers that Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus was Lazeer Zuluduz Surfeit spelled backwards and yes, he had even noted that Reezal was Lazeer spelled backwards but he hadn't considered the possibility that his youngest son was still alive. TazirVile looked closely at the youngster, he did seem awfully familiar to him and not just because he had seen him on Zeta Ren. There seemed to be an old familiarity to the youth, like he had known him far longer before he did now.

"Angel-..." TazirVile said. "Lazeer's... Lazeer-..."

"Is alive," Angel said. "this is our youngest son. Our thirdborn. The baby who I took off with when he was only four months old."

"Baby-..."

"Do a fuckin' test on him if you don't believe me but don't you dare separate or try to take him or any of my other children from me or try to separate my sons from one another!" Angel exclaimed. "I'll never forgive you if you try it, mark my words I will not!"


	32. Chapter 32

Lazeer had not felt the pain in his eye for almost ten minutes, when the ship that he was in took off on its way off of the planet that he had been raised the pain hit him so hard that it took him to his knees. His mother helped him to his feet then she walked him over to one of the beds where she made him lay down. Hazaar, who had been struggling to control himself and his hysterics, broke down completely after the ship that was owned by his father left the atmosphere of Earth, his mother escorted him to the bed that Lazeer was on and had him lay down beside his brother. Bile and Lhaklar, the latter who was still suffering the effects of his pride being broken and who was really having issues containing his hysterics, sat down on the bed that was beside the one that their two younger brothers were on. Their father had left the room soon after their mother had exposed who "Reezal Zuduluz Tiefrus" really was, he had returned shortly after with a DNA and fingerprint analysis kit and had done exactly as their mother had suggested. Lazeer had had his mouth swabbed, a sample of his DNA had been taken and then he had been instructed to hold his hands on a black square screen. A red light had shown soon after their youngest brother had placed his hands on the screen, it had been stationary for a second then it had gone from left to right. After their youngest brothers fingerprints had been taken their father had left the room. There were three guards outside the door, placed there by their father, and the door had been locked. The door had only been unlocked after they had left the planet that they had been raised on and were on their way to the planet of Moas, the planet that was in the M-51 Galaxy, the galaxy where the Surfeit family had been born and raised for millions of years and the galaxy that had been said, per agreement of respectability, to not ever be conquered by one of Surfeit blood and the galaxy where, millions of years after that agreement had been placed, Vile Vile, better known as Master Vile, had decided to break the agreement and conquer it. Soon after they were past the moon their father put his ship on auto pilot in order to go to the communications deck to turn all the telephones, screens and communicators back on, he had returned back to the cockpit and had resumed driving his ship soon afterwards.

"The Universe is abuzz with activity after it was discovered that TazirVile Surfeit was sighted as driving his ship out from the planet Earth. It has been heavily speculated that he has captured his wife and three sons and the youth that he saw several months ago that-..."

"Sources are saying that TazirVile Surfeit has come off successful in capturing his wife, Angel Irene, and their children, Bile Vile, LhaklarVile Closhu Surfeit and-..."

"Although there has been no pick-up from Mr. Surfeit, it is heavily thought that he has captured his recently discovered to be alive family as he has left the planet Earth where he found his wife, An-..."

"Bile, please stop doing that." Angel said to her son who had turned the 50" tv on and who was running through the channels madly. "You're upsetting your brothers."

"Sorry ma, just wanted to know what's going on outside this craft." Bile said, he put the long, black remote control that was eight inches long and had red and white buttons on it.

"Ma-..." Lazeer cried. "can you p-please get me s-something for m-my eye? It huh-hurts b-bad!"

Angel looked at her youngest son just as Bile and Lhaklar did, Lazeer's face was streaked with tears and it looked plain awful to view. Besides the tear trials, he had several cuts and bruises on his face and his lower lip was open and bleeding. He was also complaining of his ribs, stomach and groin hurting him which further concerned his mother. Soon after their youngest brother had been placed on the bed after he had collapsed after the pain had returned with a vengeance, Bile and Lhaklar had told their mother all that had happened to him. Angel knew of the abuse that her youngest child had gone through over the past forty-five minutes, her anger was so great that if a Goblin had walked into the room she would have pounced on him and torn him to bits. Bile walked forward and began searching through his younger brothers pockets, when he found the Visine Tears he pulled them out, he took the cap off then he held the drops over his brother's left eye. He used the entire bottle on his little brother and still, Lazeer could feel the pain. The Visine Tears had done nothing to help ease the pain that his ailing eye was causing him. When her youngest child continued to weep and cry out to her for assistance, Angel walked away from him and went to the door.

"Who is it that is behind this door?" Bile heard his mother say loudly.

"Abevo Speelin, Mistress."

"Tafan Grazoaran, ma'am."

"I only know one of you out there, Abevo. Is Cheshire Ubalki on this ship?" Angel asked.

"Yes, Mistress." Abevo replied.

"I would like to speak to him, if you would be so kind as to bring him to be please."

"I'll go find him now," Abevo said, he then ran off.

Hazaar sat upright, he had gotten himself together a little bit and was able to think clearly. He felt foolish, he felt as if he had betrayed his being of the male sex. He had let his emotions get the better of him twice since being in the ship of his father's, he had cried in front of his oldest brother after Lhaklar had fainted and he had thought that he had died and then he had let the fear of losing his family and of the man who had used the belt on him sweep over him. He had faith that his mother wouldn't let his father take him away from her or his brothers and he had confidence that his mother wouldn't let anything bad happen to him or his brothers. Hazaar, seeing as he had nothing to lose and since he was sure that his father would rat him out on his being a smoker, got up from the bed then walked over to his coat. He picked his coat up then reached into the pocket and took out the pack of Kamel Red Smooth Taste, he wet his lips and took a deep breath before turning around. He near lost it when he handed the pack of smokes to his mother, who looked down at the cigarettes for a few seconds before lifting her head up, she didn't look mad to him. She had a surprised look on her face but she also had another look on her face. Was it relief? Hazaar looked away, he was sure that he was about to get beating number two of the day.

"I had a feeling someone in the apartment smoked," their mother said. "been finding cigarette butts in the back yard for years now. How long?"

"Few hundred years." Hazaar replied. "I-... I don't smoke all the time. Just-..."

"Just as a relaxer?" Angel said.

"Yeah,"

Angel looked at her son in a sort of shock, although she had hoped that her sons wouldn't smoke for a few more years she had had a feeling that one of her four was smoking cigarettes as she had been finding cigarette butts in the back yard for years and, also, she had been finding cellophane i the kitchen trash can as well. Camel cigarettes were a fine cigarette, very smooth in taste, she had smoked them fifty years before her father had arrived on Earth to find her. Angel softened her face up then reached her hand forward, Hazaar looked at her with the look of a child pleading to not be disciplined but so hard and she near laughed. Angel handed the cigarette pack to her son then gave him a hug. He hesitated for a few seconds then he wrapped his arms around her. Boys will be boys, they pick things up to try and they learned from their experimenting. She had smoked her first cigarette right after arriving back on Earth after her half-graduation from Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, like her son, she had been curious about what the sticks were that were hanging out from the humans mouths that had smoke coming out from the end. If her son would have said that he smoked all the time she wouldn't have given him back the cigarettes, she would have kept them but, seeing as her son had said that he didn't smoke all the time she figured that he was alright in smoking and in filing the experience down in his experience banks.

"Momma, are you mad at me?" Hazaar asked in a scared way.

"No, not mad. Just as long as you keep it down and don't go crazy with the cigarettes you're fine." Angel said.

"Mom," Lhaklar said. "not just Hazaar that smokes. He-... picked it up from me. I smoke as well."

"He's the same as me, momma." Hazaar said after his mother had turned around to look at his older brother. "He don't smoke all the time either. Maybe one every two days."

"Oh, well the same goes to you as well. Keep it down and keep it that way." Angel said to her secondborn son.

Since they were exposing their secrets, Bile decided to expose his own. He told his mother that he smoked pot and that he had, or use to have until his father had robbed the apartment and taken them, a few pornographic magazines. Hazaar told his mother that he also bought pornographic magazines and that he shared them with Lazeer and Lazeer also exposed his secret of being a smoker as well. Their mother was a little hard on Bile for his pot smoking, she gave him a warning to watch what he smoked then she walked over and sat beside Lazeer. She told her sons that she'd do all that she could to get their magazines back to them and that she'd talk to their father about their owning of such reading material. After saying that to her sons, Angel turned around and had Lazeer sit upright. She slid his coat off of him then had him lie back down. Just as Lazeer settled back on the pillow that his mother had propped up behind his head there was a knock on the door. Bile watched as his mother went towards the door, his every muscle was tense, if anyone would have come through the door and had tried to grab or hurt his mother he would do all that he could to defend her.

"Who is it?" their mother demanded to know.

"Cheshire Ubalki, you asked to speak with me." Bile heard his adopted father's stepfather said.

"What sensitivity do you have?" Hazaar held his breath, he was expecting a vocal fight to happen.

"Medium-severe, why?"

"Do you mind if I borrow a bottle of your eye drops?" Lazeer sat upright, through his right eye he looked at his mother. "For my youngest son."

"Hazaar?"

"N-... yes, Hazaar."

"Slide them under the door when you're through with them." Cheshire said, a small bottle of clear eye drops was slid through the door.

Hazaar looked at his mother in shock, he didn't have any problems with his eyes, he could go outside when it was sunny out and his eyes wouldn't be effected. He and Lhaklar had both not inherited the ailment, their younger brother had inherited a mild form of it and it depressed him greatly. Before Hazaar could say anything, Lhaklar reached over and tapped him on the arm. Lhaklar told him to clamp it shut and not say a word, their mother had walked over to Lazeer, had gotten him to lie back down then had taken the cap off of the bottle that she had been given by their grandfather. She shook the bottle twice then turned it upside down, she squeezed the bottle twice then held it to the side, Lazeer blinked his eyes twice after she had applied the drops to his affected eye. Bile walked over and saw that there were light orange tears coming out from his youngest brothers eyes, he grew concerned for only a second then he calmed himself. If the drops had hurt his brother he would have said something by now, he would have yelled out and then he'd of been rushed to the bathroom to do a swift washing out of his eye with normal tap water. In all, it took two more applications before Lazeer could see again and before the pain disappeared.

"Hi mom," Lazeer said.

"Hello sweetheart," Angel said, she held her hand over his left eye.

"Peek-a-boo,"

"Silly thing," Angel laughed, she then held her hand over her son's right eye.

"I see you." Lazeer said, he then sat upright and hugged his mother. "I can see now, no more half-vision or pain."

Bile rolled his eyes the second his brother was relieved of the pain that he was feeling in his left eye and could see again, it was like Lazeer had been holding it all in until after he could see in both eyes ago. He said a bunch of jokes, walked around acting tough then he sat down after his stomach and groin started hurting him again. Angel, once her son had been cured the pain he was experiencing in his eye, laughed at his jokes then, after her son had seated himself down on the end of the bed she turned around and went to the door. She slid the drops underneath the door, thanks Cheshire for allowing her to use his eye drops then she walked back over to her sons. Lazeer got up only once after sitting down, he stood up, walked around to the side of the bed then he lay down on his back. He, all of a sudden, felt very ill. His stomach, chest and groin were all hurting him quite a lot now, it almost felt as if the organs and blood vessels that were inside his body were all twisting and turning around inside of him. Before long, he was crying again.

"Lazie, honey, calm down. Tell me what hurts you." his mother said, she sat down beside her son then reached down and gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder.

"M-my chest and-... and my stomach and crotch hurt ma." Lazeer replied shakily, he sniffled twice then sobbed loudly. "Th-they hurt, feels like ev-everyth-thing inside is tw-twisting and t-turning ab-bout."

"Do you feel like you need to go potty?"

"No,"

"Do you feel like you have to throw up?"

"N-no,"

She did not want to do it but, seeing as her son was hurting as much as he was and that his pains were not being caused by a need to relieve himself of either waste or something he had eaten in the past few hours, she left the room that her sons were in quickly and ran down the hallway. She ran right to the medical chamber and began looking for some medicine to help her son out, one of them automated shots that had a painkiller medicine in them or a pill that would release a pain reliever or some sort of medication that would make her son sleep. When she found nothing she panicked, Angel ran out of the medical room, she ran past two Goblin maids then went right back into the room that her sons were in. Her son was still crying, he was still upset because of the pain he was experiencing and that upset her. She had nothing to help her son with and she didn't trust anyone in the ship, after what all had just happened she wasn't going to show an ounce of trust towards anyone for a while. Angel thought about filling the bathtub up with warm water then getting her son to soak in it for a while, she thought about simply sitting by her son and talking to him like his brothers were all doing. She had no idea if her son had any internal injuries, he probably did as he had been kicked in the stomach, back, in the ribs, chest and in the groin several times by several fully grown men.

"Ma," Lazeer held his hand out. "m-m-ma..."

"I'm here, baby." Angel walked over, Bile stood up and let her have the spot on the bed that he had been sitting on. Angel leaned down, wrapped her arms around her lastborn son then gently picked him up. "I'm right here, sweetie."

Hazaar looked as if he was about to start crying, Lhaklar looked as if he was fighting the tears and Bile looked as if he was about to crack. She had to do something to calm all of them down and, seeing as Lazeer's head was near her breast, she gently positioned her son then reached down and undid half of the buttons that were on the front. She pulled her breast out then gently placed her hand behind her youngest son's head, the second her nipple touched his lips she felt him latch on and begin suckling. This was how she had saved his life, if it hadn't been for her natural milk he would not be in her arms at one thousand, six hundred years of age. Her milk had provided everything that her prematurely born son who had been said to no live for no more than two days after she and Tazir had taken him from the hospital needed to survive and grow. All four of her sons still nursed, she usually milked herself to relieve the pain of her heavy milk sacks then put the milk in a few glass milk bottles for her sons at a later time. She still nursed her sons the normal way by letting them latch on but, due to their age and her fear that they would feel embarrassed by nursing the old fashion way she only did it when they were ill or when they were overly stressed out. They all knew the rules of how to nurse from her. No biting, that was rule number one. No fighting, that was rule number two and leave enough for the next brother who wanted a little of her natural milk in their stomachs. Lazeer, after he had drank half of the milk from her left breast, unhooked himself then dropped back to the bed. He looked at his mother, the corners of his O-shaped mouth curled up then he reached his hand up and brushed the hair that had fallen into his mother's face back. He had stopped crying.

"Sir," Kalach slowly walked into the cockpit, which was a large room that held all the controls to the ship. There was the steering wheel, the radar, the sonor detection screen, there was an area set up on the wall that had all the control to the heating, cooling and water systems in the ship and there was also an area set up for weapons control. His employer was seated in a black chair that was connected to the floor, the chair had a long, thin back and there were two belts wrapped around it. The two belts were wrapped around his employer's upper torso, they were keeping him safe just in case something happened and he lost control of the ship or the window that looked out from the cockpit got a crack and the pressure from the outside seeped in and started sucking everything out. "Mistress Angel left the room. Seemed rather hurried... frantic."

"Have the results come back on them two tests?" TazirVile asked.

"Yessir, they are waiting for your viewing." Kalach said.

"We have gone a little over ten thousand miles," TazirVile said, he unhooked the belts from around him then he set the ship to hover. "I'll continue driving us home in an hour."

The past two hours had been rough for him, he had done as his wife had said and had tested the Reezal boy's DNA and had gotten a fingerprint analysis done on the youngster and then he had decided to leave the room. His decision to leave his wife and the boys alone had not come from his fear of them or of his anger, he had figured it the best thing to do because they were all stressed out and he knew that by his presence he would elevate their stress levels. He had thought hard on what his wife had said after the tests had been done and he had slid into the driver's seat in the cockpit about the Reezal boy. She had been rather upset with him over the fact that he still had no clue as to who the youngster was and he was rather upset with himself over not knowing who he was as well. He felt as if he had known the boy, he had felt a feeling of familiarity when he had looked at the boy close-up. The youth did seem rather close to his wife, all of the boys seemed to be rather close to their mother and he admired that. They were still at that age where they were still running to their mother for protection. Although they were exploring the world, gaining some experiences under their belts, they still came back to their mother after they heard or saw something that spooked them. He had seen his wife let Hazaar nuzzle his head up against herself when he had been swishing a cotton swab in the Reezal boys' mouth, taking a sample of his DNA for the paternity test and then he had seen Bile and Lhaklar walk up to do the same when he had been making a copy of the Reezal boys fingerprints for the identification test. The Reezal boy, after his fingerprints had been taken, had turned around and had hugged his wife tightly. He had refused to let her get so much as an inch from him and even he had nuzzled his head up against hers.

He did stand firm on his disciplining of Bile, Lhaklar and Hazaar, they had attacked him and his Goblins and his stepfather and younger half-brother with no reason, they had injured several of his Goblins and they had also injured him. He had burned the belt, right before heading to the cockpit to drive his ship back home he had tossed the belt into the incinerator. There had been a spark, a ball of fire and then the smell of leather being burned, the belt was no more and he planned to use not further belts on his sons as a means of disciplining them. He had ordered for the results of the two tests to be placed on the coffee table that was in the living room in his ship and that they not be looked at by anyone, the results were just for his eyes only. As he went towards the living room of his ship he felt as if he had something being dragged behind him. There was a heaviness that was making him go slower than he normally would go and that made him wonder if it was the results that were making him go so slowly.

What would he do if the results said that the boy was his thirdborn son? Well, for one, he'd be one hell of a happy-yelling man and then he'd run down the hallway to the room, throw the door open and-... no, that wasn't the wisest of things to do. No, if the results did say that the boy was his thirdborn son he'd yell out his excitement over knowing that Lazeer was alive and then-... oh hell no, maybe yelling wasn't the best thing to do. Maybe he'd just grab the results then head to the room, view them then whatever happened next would happen. If the results came back saying that the boy was not his thirdborn son, just an unrelated boy, he'd just say nothing. He'd accept the results then continue on home. He wasn't going to separate the boy from his wife, they had a very close relationship, if he separated them then he'd be no better than his father. He'd be a monster, he's be depriving his wife of someone she had raised since possibly birth and he'd be depriving his sons of the boy that they had come to know as their brother. He'd accept the results then raise the boy as his own, he'd do exactly as his wife had done with Eshal and with the boy and how he had done with Bile for the six hundred years that he had been living in his home on Moas. TazirVile, when he reached the opening that led into the living room, stopped. He took in a deep breath then he went in.

It was still the same, the living room that was inside his ship that was. The fireplace was stone and it had holly and a spell-made fern hanging down from the mantle. There was a chain mail hanging down from a metal rod that barred any hands from entering the fireplace when it had been lit, there was a steel wood holder inside the fireplace that had five wood logs on it that were unlit. The two couches were the same, one was a fainting, red couch while the other that sat across from the fainting couch was a dark gray couch shaped like a coffin. A glass coffee table sat between the two couches, the table sat on black, accent legs that were very sturdy. Over near the wall stood a red chair and ottoman, above the chair was a taxidermied head of a large species of bat that he had hunted and killed on Moas some thousands of years ago. There were six Gothic floor lanterns that held light bulbs in the holder, in the center of the ceiling above was a large, yellow domed light that cast down a golden light which lit the entire room, the Gothic floor lanterns also cast out a golden glow. There were photographs of him and his children, all five of them that that included Bile, mounted on the walls, above the fireplace was a photograph of him and his wife, his wife was being held up against him and looked very happy in his arms. Off on the right side of the room were two photographs of him and his older half-brother, Kuruk.

On the glass coffee table sat an all gold Moas telephone that had semi-precious gems all over it, there was also a stack of books and a small pile of magazines sitting on the left side of the phone while, on the right side of the phone sat a big brown wood box that had all sorts of chocolate in it. The chocolate in the box was strictly eaten after dinner, his wife was rather fond of Moas chocolate, she said it had a very rich, smooth taste and that it tasted similar to German chocolate. She liked Moas chocolate covered Almonds and fruit quite a lot and he had made sure to have some of that on his ship for her. Maybe she'd like some of it after he had read the results of the two tests? He kept that in mind, his mother, stepfather, younger full-sister and Eshal were all seated in the room, they were all staring down at the envelopes that had the results of the two tests in them. TazirVile walked up to the table, bent down then picked the results up. He then turned around and exited the living room, he had said nothing to his family and they had said nothing to him, there was no need as they had all been thinking the same. What did the envelopes harbor inside of them? Had the results come back positive or negative?

"Bile, honey, please turn off that tv." Angel said to her son again, this was the third time that she had asked for her firstborn to turn the tv off. She had let Bile and Lhaklar nurse, they had calmed down fully but Hazaar and Lazeer had started to get fussy again so she had let them both nurse again. Angel was lying down on the bed, she had propped the pillows up to cushion her back. Lazeer was nursing from her left breast while Hazaar had latched onto her right. "Lhaklar, you feeling alright? Look a bit pale over there."

"Space sickness, nothing more." Lhaklar said.

"If you have a need-..."

"... the bathroom is a short walk away." Lhaklar finished for his mother. "I know."

"Bile, how you feeling over there?" Angel asked her firstborn.

"Ankle hurts, chest, back, shoulders... ah hell! Everything fuckin' hurts ma!" Bile exclaimed.

"Take a seat, rest up." Angel said.

Bile walked over and sat beside his mother, Lhaklar, who had been standing near the bathroom, was suddenly overcome with stomach queasiness and ran off for the toilet. Angel listened in a near panic as her secondborn son got sick, she worried that he would go into shock. She had been told that he had fainted after the fight, he had gotten overheated and that had made his brain trigger the response for him to go to sleep in order for his body to cool down. She was real worried for all of her sons, all of them had injuries on them that were all causing them grief, Hazaar and Lazeer were still emotionally wrecked and now Lhaklar was getting sick. She had decided to stick in the room with her sons, she feared that if she left that, when she returned, one or more would be found to be missing and the remaining ones would be very stressed out. Angel started rocking back and forth gently, when Lhaklar came out from the bathroom he walked over and sat on the bed beside her. She hummed to her four sons and that seemed to calm them all down some. Bile and Lhaklar leaned over, they placed their heads on their mother's shoulder then, just before their father entered the room, they both gave their mother a kiss on the cheek which she returned. When TazirVile entered the room, all four of her sons grew tense, Angel placed her hands on Bile's and Lhaklar's shoulders then she nuzzled her head up against Hazaar and Lazeer who had stopped nursing. They went back to nursing right after she gave them some comfort.

"Honey... you still produce milk for the boys?" TazirVile asked upon walking into the room and seeing his wife lying on the bed with his secondborn son and the Reezal boy latched onto her breasts.

"Yes, and I still let them nurse from me." Angel replied.

"I have the results here from the tests," TazirVile said, he held the two envelopes up into view.

"Look at them then," Angel snapped.

She was having a time with Hazaar now that his father had walked into the room, he had gone from being calm and content to being nervous again. Lhaklar and Bile sat up to give her some space so she could calm their younger brother, just as their father opened the first envelope Hazaar was trying to turn around to face him. Bile placed his hand on his little brother's shoulder, although his touch comforted his brother it only did but so much. Lhaklar rubbed Hazaar's back and spoke to him, he told his younger brother that it was alright. TazirVile was taking all this in, he was noting the nervousness of both of the younger boys, the results were in his hands, he had yet to read or look at them. In a last-ditch effort to calm her son down, Angel pushed Hazaar back gently then, after he had unlatched himself from her breast she leaned forward and hugged him. Hazaar, with his head held tightly against his mother's, nuzzled his mother firmly. He begged for comfort and she gave it, she nuzzled her head up against his then gave him a pat on the back. Lazeer pulled away from her breast, he looked up at her then he pulled himself up so that his head could be placed on his mother's shoulder. With both boys looking to have been calmed down some, TazirVile looked down at the results from the DNA test.

DNA sample concludes that there is a 100% match of individual named TazirVile Lajoshu Surfeit with youth tested. Sample shows clear DNA match, anything under 99% makes test inconclusive

TazirVile looked at the youth, the DNA test that he had done, the sample that he had taken from the youth's mouth and the sample that he had taken out of his own mouth via swabbing a cotton swab to collect some saliva had been tested and it had come back with a full on percentage showing that he was the father of the youth that he had seen on Zeta Ren so many months ago. TazirVile walked forward slowly, when he got to the bed he sat down. Hazaar moved slightly, he looked down at him while the Reezal boy stayed in the position he was in. TazirVile didn't need to do a DNA test on Hazaar or Lhaklar to know if they were his sons, he knew that they were. Lhaklar scooted over closer to his mother, he looked as if he had gotten sick previously and this did concern TazirVile quite a lot. Bile's muscles looked tensed, he looked as if he was about to spring forward at any second if a wrong move on his part was made. TazirVile opened the second envelope that held the results of the fingerprint analysis that he had done on the Reezal boy. If the boy had been born at Cawanuuk Hospital like his wife had claimed he had been then a record would exist of him. Like all babies, prints were made on the hands, fingers, feet and toes as soon as the baby had been cleaned up. Even for premature babies this was done and his thirdborn son's hand, finger, foot and toe prints had been made immediately before he had been placed in the pod. TazirVile looked down at the results that he had taken out of the envelope, his hand shook and his breath caught in his throat as he read what the piece of paper had on it.

Unknown youth's prints match 100% with prints taken on February 13, 2499 and 1:51 am from Cawanuuk Hospital located on Clokli and Brinoli streets. Prints match up with baby born to TazirVile Lajoshu Surfeit and Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit, name of baby LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit.

She readied herself, she braced herself for it and when it came she had quite a hard time controlling all four of her sons. Her Universal Husband had gotten the results back, they had confirmed what she had told him and now he was going crazy to see Lazeer. Lhaklar and Hazaar jumped off of the bed, Hazaar ran over and huddled in the corner that he had tried to use earlier as a back saver when his father had walked up to him with the belt in hand, Bile lunged forward twice then he relaxed after Angel put her hand on his arm. Lazeer, who was very nervous, slowly turned his head and looked at his father who had finally found out who he was. The two stared at each other for a full minute, TazirVile reached over and placed his hand on his now-known-to-be alive thirdborn son's shoulder. Lazeer shook all over in fear, he pulled away but he stayed with his mother and that allowed for TazirVile to get a better look at him. TazirVile ran his hand up to the single row of brick-red hair that ran from one side of Lazeer's head to the other in a C-like fashion that was two inches in width then he leaned forward. Lazeer gasped when his father kissed him on the forehead then gave him a hug. This confused Lazeer greatly and his father knew it well. TazirVile gave his son a pat on the back then he stood up, he exited the room soon afterwards.

"...unning turn of events, sources from the ship owned by TazirVile Surfeit claim that the identity of the Reezal boy that has been claimed by Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit has been discovered. Sources have told our station that the Reezal boy is now no longer known by that name but it now known and referred to as the thirdborn son of TazirVile Surfeit and Angel Irene Vile-Surfeit, LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit." Bile had turned the tv on in the room that he and his family were in after his mother had given him say to do so. A tall, male Zetakin that had light yellow skin and triangular-shaped, red eyes, was reporting. "Only two of our calls were answered but, when both were answered, a member of TazirVile Surfeit's family said that all four boys were in fine shape, doing well and that the youngest of the four had been positively identified as TazirVile Surfeit's thirdborn s-..."

"...orts being made, the identity of the Reezal boy has finally been discovered. Upon having our call answered we were told that all four boys were on the ship heading back home to the planet of Moas where two of the four had been raised for a few hundred years. Ashaklar Zoopray, the mother of TazirVile Surfeit, when asked if an identity had been made on the Reezal boy she replied with a yes and then said that that the boy's name is not Reezal but that of Lazeer." Bile had changed the channel, a woman that had long flowing, black hair, black eyes and a pencil-thin mouth who was wearing a black dress was now reporting. "Only one of our calls has been answered but from reports, the thirdborn son of TazirVile Surfeit seems to be alive and w-..."

"... there was much activity noted behind Surfeit Manor today after ShaamVile Klondike Surfeit arrived home after a lengthy stay away from his birth planet. A flurry of reports claim that LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit has been discovered to be very alive and well and, from the activity behind Surfeit Manor that has seen the births of numerous Surfeit children and who was previously owned by ShaamVile Surfeit, the reports seem to be very true." Bile had changed the channel yet again, a man who had tentacles instead of hair and beady, yellow eyes who was wearing a light blue tuxedo was now on the screen. "ShaamVile Surfeit was seen yanking up the tombstones of HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit and LazeerVile Zuluduz Surfeit from the cemetary behind Surfeit Manor, referred to as Surfeit Cemetary, and then shattering-..."

"They sure as hell don't beat around the bush when it comes to spreading around the gossip." Bile said after he had turned the tv off. "Been what, fifteen... twenty minutes since Lazeer was found to be... well... Lazeer."

"You expect for them to keep anything to themselves?" Lhaklar asked. "Mom-..."

"Least it's better than him being known only as the unknown youth." Angel said. "Think of it as that."

Lhaklar and Hazaar were walking around, they had both calmed down after their father had exited the room and were nearly back to themselves, Bile had gone back to messing around with the tv, he seemed to have a thing with the bigness of the screen. Angel didn't deter her oldest son from examining the tv or in watching anything on it, she was glad that he was starting to relax. Lazeer, five minutes after their father had left the room, had gone to the bathroom then, after making a few mock-cries of drowning in the toilet or of being grabbed by the monster that lived down in the drain, came out. His joking had continued, he had made Hazaar laugh a few times and then, after he had said something on the state of his older brother's hair, Hazaar had lunged at him. Angel had to put herself between her two younger sons to keep them from fighting each other, Abevo checked in to see if everything was alright after he had heard the fighting soon after Angel had gotten Lazeer and Hazaar to leave each other alone. The second Lazeer had seen the Goblin he had shouted out something about the troll that hid underneath the bridge from the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff which had slightly offended the Goblin. Angel had left the room for only a second to explain her son's actions to the Goblin and, although the man had said that he had understood her, she had a feeling that her son had not made a very good impression on the Goblin. At the moment, Lazeer was sitting on the bed, he was still experiencing the pains in his chest, stomach and groin but he was acting almost like normal.

"I think Bile found his new girlfriend," Lazeer said after Bile had picked the remote up to the tv again. "he can't keep his hands off of the remote to that nice, big tv."

"I swear, if someone don't shut him the hell up I'm going to throttle him." Hazaar said, he was very annoyed.

"How many throttles does it take to fuel up an engine for a craft like this?" Lazeer asked.

"I have no idea," Lhaklar replied, Bile winced as his brother had fallen into one of Lazeer's many tricks. "probably-..."

"Just as many as it took to make your ugly mug!" Lazeer exclaimed, he then began to laugh loudly.

"If my mug's ugly then so is yours." Lhaklar replied after a few seconds had passed.

"Good comeback, Lhaklar." Bile said.

"Yeah, just as good as Bile's when he came home to find his brownies all eaten up." Lazeer said.

Lazeer clamped his mouth shut soon after because the door opened and his father walked into the room. Bile, whose ankle had swollen two nearly half over its size, was forced to sit down as it hurt to walk around. Hazaar hid himself behind his mother while Lhaklar stood in place. TazirVile walked right up to Angel, he didn't bother closing the door behind him, it stayed open fully so Angel and her sons could clearly see that Abevo had left his post. Just as TazirVile stepped to within a foot of Angel, she was struck by a pain in her abdomen which near made her drop to her knees. TazirVile reached his hand towards her, when his hand touched her stomach she was automatically relieved of the pain that she had suddenly been stricken with. Bile, despite his hurting ankle, and Lhaklar had gotten nervous after their mother had bent down in pain and had rushed forward, they both fussed over their mother for a few seconds then, with quite a lot of reluctance, they backed off after she said she was fine. TazirVile, who had taken a step back to let his stepson and biological son come forward to express their concern over their mother, said nothing for a short while. He was looking over at Lazeer who was standing nearby.

"Baby, if you'll follow me and have the boys follow you, I'd like to have any injuries that they've received by my and my Goblins hands tended to." TazirVile said.

"Sure, just go slow." Angel said, she then glanced over at Bile. "Don't need nor want any of their injuries aggravated."

"Of course, my love."

"Please don't say that number f-..."

"Shut up Lazeer!" Hazaar exclaimed angrily.

As he took his family down the hallway towards the medical chamber he took note that Lazeer, just like his school records had mentioned, had a tendency to spill out the jokes a bit too much and that all four of the boys had a normal rivalry between them which he was glad for. Hazaar, who was gripped by the temperamental phase, had a way to be a bit too extreme when Lazeer opened his mouth to say something, whether it was something innocent or a joke, and Lazeer was also experiencing signs of the phase as well. Angel kept all four of her sons in line well, whenever one went a little too overboard she'd come in and get the youngster to behave himself. When Hazaar shoved Lazeer from behind she stopped, turned around then got him in line quick by telling him to not push his brother and to behave himself which he did... for a little while until Lazeer started to say something on one of the hanging bats that he had put up on the wall. Lhaklar stayed mostly quiet unless to say something to get Hazaar under control while Bile stayed quiet completely. Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar and Lazeer didn't follow their parents down the hallway in a line, they were nearly walking on top of their mother. Once they were in the medical chamber TazirVile found himself experiencing a sort of repeat from the first time he had taken Lhaklar and Hazaar to the room.

"Alright, Bile you're first." TazirVile said.

"I do hate being the oldest at times." Bile moaned, he then began to remove the remnants of his pants.

TazirVile's eyes near burst out from behind his goggled glasses when he saw the full extent of muscle that was on his stepson's body. Bile had one hell of a well-muscled body, his chest was thickly muscled, he had a very powerful six-pack and some very big, very finely muscled, arms while his lower half was a little less extreme in muscle but, to the naked eye, one would not have noticed that. Bile looked strong, fast and powerful. TazirVile had Bile slide onto the automated medical table, he swung the domes over the youngster then he began to tap the buttons, Angel had walked around to the other side. Bile's full attention was on her, he winced only twice from the pain that the lazers that the arms that had swung out from the grooves in the dome sidings were causing him as they tended his injuries then TazirVile gave him a dose of pain reliever that sent the youngster into a calmed state. After all of his stepson's injuries had been tended to and healed, TazirVile quickly had the table run a physical exam on him. When the green lights stopped rolling up and down Bile's body the glass domes released and he rolled off of the table.

"We have only a few more hours before we reach home," TazirVile said, he was holding out a large towel for Bile to take. Bile looked at the towel for a few seconds then took it. He wrapped it around his body once then tied it about his waist. Angel directed him to go stand by the door which he obediently did. "Lhaklar, you're next."

Lhaklar acted much the same from when he had first been on the automated medical table. He undressed himself then leaped onto the table, he shook his head twice and he broke out in a sweat when the lazers began to work on the burns that were around his upper torso for only a few seconds before the pain reliever was given then he calmed down. Angel had acted a bit nervous when her son had started reacting to the pain, she didn't have to voice her nervousness, TazirVile could see it plainly on her face how nervous she had become when their son had started to experience the pain from being healed up by the table. After the table had fixed up all the injuries that Lhaklar had on his body, TazirVile ran a physical exam to be on the safe side. When the physical exam completed, the glass domes released then swung down. Lhaklar rolled off of the table, stood up then went to his mother, TazirVile said nothing. He just handed his firstborn a towel to wrap around his body then looked over at Hazaar.

"Momma," Hazaar said weakly.

"C-..."

"Get on the table, Hazaar." Lhaklar said.

"Lhaklar-..."

"Come here, Hazie. Lhaklar, you hush." Angel said sternly.

There was a slight fight between his wife and his firstborn son, Lhaklar had tried to take over as being the adult and Angel would have none of it. After a fully two minutes had passed, Lhaklar went and stood next to Bile who glared at him. Hazaar undressed himself of everything that he was wearing then slowly got onto the automated table. Once the glass domes had closed over him he began flopping around, he panicked and that sparked his mother into a nervous fit. Angel tapped on the glass to get her son's attention then, when that didn't work she started talking loudly then slapping her hand against the dome. Lhaklar yelled out for Hazaar to pipe down and cool it, that didn't help matters at all. In the end, TazirVile had to press the button to have the elastic bands wrap around his secondborn son's arms and legs to keep him in place and still. It was only after the elastic bands had wrapped around Hazaar's arms and legs that the table was able to tend his injuries. After the table had healed Hazaar up and TazirVile had tapped in the command for the physical exam to take place Hazaar was freed from the table. He leaped off of the table then ran and hid behind his mother quickly.

"Calm down, sweetie." Angel said after she had turned around to face her thirdborn son who was hiding behind her. "It's all over, nothing to be afraid of. Just a table with some lazers that fix up injuries. That's all."

"He alright?" TazirVile asked, he had walked around the table and was standing just behind his wife.

"He'll be fine," Angel replied, she looked back and saw that TazirVile had a towel in his hands. "here, you let me have this."

He let her have the towel, she wrapped it around Hazaar herself then sent him to stand next to his brothers. At first, he was reluctant to do as he was told, he stuck by her side for a few minutes then, after being told again to go stand by his brothers twice more he did as he was told. Lazeer flat-out refused to come forward for a few minutes, he stayed back by the wall until his mother walked over to him. TazirVile marveled at how wonderfully his wife was in handling the boys, she had managed to get Hazaar under control, had managed to get Lhaklar to be obedient and she had also calmed her sons when they were nervous. It took her all of thirty seconds before Lazeer would walk forward. He undressed himself slowly then climbed onto the table without any further fuss. TazirVile kept it in himself at how surprised he was in how well formed his lastborn son's body was. His son had a body much like Hazaar's, it was lean and had some good muscle on it. He had a good, hard chest and a nicely developed six-pack. His arms were very nicely muscled, as were his legs. His back, though, showed his youth. It had some muscle on it but it was mostly slender. After the table had tended and healed his youngest son's injuries and he had tapped the command for the physical exam to be done, he pressed the button for the domes to be released. Lazeer sat upright, turned around then jumped down from the table.

"So, how many puppies did I make with my wife Mrs. Auto Table?" Lazeer asked, when he saw the towel he reached over and grabbed it himself, he wrapped it around his waist then stood beside his mother.

"Not a one," TazirVile said, he was now tapping on the panel to get the results of Bile's and Lazeer's physical exams up, he had already seen Lhaklar and Hazaar's physical exams results.

"Darn, I'll have to try harder next time then." Lazeer said.

"You idiot, you don't make babies with a table." Hazaar said.

"Really, what was that green light that came off of me?" Lazeer asked.

"Noxious gas," Bile said, his brothers and mother laughed, TazirVile chuckled.

"That was your noxious gas, mine comes out smelling sweeter."

TazirVile fought to burst out laughing, his youngest son had a way in making one laugh and he was really getting quite a lot of laughter from Bile and Lhaklar. The screen went black for a second, the physical results wouldn't come up so TazirVile had them printed out. Just as the two pieces of paper slid out from the side of the screen and were in his hands his youngest son said something about Bile's rear end which got Hazaar laughing wildly. TazirVile looked over at his wife who shook her head, he smiled at her then he looked down at the physical results from Bile and Lazeer's physical exam.

Vile, Bile

Age: 2,200 years

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 250 lbs

B. Type: Body builder, no body mass fat detected

Brain Activity: Normal, nothing abnormal detected

Lung Health: Normal, nothing abnormal detected

Heart Rate: Normal

Physical Defects Noted: None, table could find none on body

Injury Assessment: Burns on chest, sides, back, stomach and buttocks, fixed. Sprained ankle, fixed.

Surfeit, LazeerVile Zuluduz

Age: 1,600 years

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 181 lbs

B. Type: Lean, no body mass fat detected

Brain Activity: Normal, nothing abnormal detected

Lung Health: Normal, nothing abnormal detected

Heart Rate: Normal

Physical Defects Noted: Left eye coloration darker than the right, possible defect

Injury Assessment: Bruised ribs, fixed. Bruised diaphragm, fixed. Bruised left testicle, 50% repaired. Bruises to face, back, arms, legs and stomach, remained, table cannot repair.

Internal injury assessment: Negative, no internal injuries noted

"You have four very healthy boys here, Angel." TazirVile said. "Very surprised at how healthy Lazeer is."

"You was expecting for him to look like a weakling?" Angel had been about to say something back but her secondborn son spoke before her.

"No, I was not." TazirVile replied.

"Lazeer is very healthy, just has problems with his eye." Angel said, she tapped Lhaklar on the arm then told him to quiet up which he did.

"His exam did show that there's a problem with his left eye." TazirVile said, he walked up to Lazeer who took a step back then stood in place. "He has the sensitivity, right?"

"Yes, he does." Angel replied. "Mild-Severe."

"Have anything for it?"

"N-..."

"Use to," Lazeer spoke up for himself. "used up the last of my drops earlier today."

"No glass?"

"No," Lazeer replied.

"He's been roasting his ass inside for a while now." Hazaar said. "Won't come o-..."

"I can't go out when the sun is out you big lummox!" Lazeer exclaimed. "I go out when the sun is out, my eye gets affected and-..."

"He's been depressed a little lately because of his eye, been trying to get the cash together for a while to get his glass." Angel placed her hand on Lazeer's shoulder, he had started to get upset.

"How long has he experienced the sensitivity?" TazirVile asked his wife.

"For quite a long while," Lazeer replied. "since I was six hundred and fifty-nine years old."

"You've been suffering the effects..." TazirVile looked down and sighed, he told himself to calm it. His wife had raised four boys as a single mother, she would not of been able to collect the cash required for a goggled glass when she had been raising four young boys at the time. "I can get him his glass, or contact if he w-..."

"Glass, thanks. Contacts create issues with the eyes and I am a boy." Lazeer said, when his father looked at him he took a step back. "Hey man, no offense but us males aren't what you'd call as "hygienic" as females."

"He's been watching a bit too much tv lately, there was a program ran a few years back where a young man lost part of his eye sight after putting and then leaving his contact lenses on the bathroom sink." Angel said.

He was a wee bit offended, although it was true that men were less neat and tidy and less hygienically inclined as woman were, he made damn sure to keep himself as clean, neat and tidy as he could. Not only was it important for his image as a conqueror, it was much more healthier as well. TazirVile nodded his head, he said he understood then he led his wife and his four sons out from the medical chamber back to the room that they had been in. He did a quick calculation of the time it would take before he'd have his family and employees back home and came up with three and a half hours. The boys would be able to sleep, eat and drink and wander around the ship as much as they wanted to, he had given the order that they were to not have any escorts or be watched. He had taken his mother and stepfather to the side and had asked them that as soon as he landed his ship for them to head on home with Efagti, Amadh, Phaggo, Blaiga, Defe, Quakiz and Qeeta, he wanted his sons to get to know their new home before any invites were sent out for family members to come over and stay for a while so they'd learn who they were and get to know them. His mother and her family had understood and, actually, they had teleported off of the ship a few minutes before. TazirVile was walking down the hallway, heading towards the cockpit to resume driving his ship and family and employees back home when he heard his wife calling him. He stopped and turned around.

"Do us all a favor when we get to Moas," Angel said. "keep the reporters away. I don't want my sons or me exposed to any sort of camera activity or having a mic shoved under our noses."

"My love, I'm landing this baby in my hanger that's underground. If there are any reporters at the front gate, all they'll be able to photograph or tape is my ship heading down underneath the ground." TazirVile said. "No one will have access to you or our sons."

"You make sure of that, we're all nervous enough. We don't need anything else to up the gauge any." Angel said, she then disappeared into the room where her four sons were in. TazirVile, after his wife had disappeared, stood still in the hallway for a few seconds then turned and resumed walking back to the cockpit.


End file.
